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Page 1: Tall Ships & Self-Discovery - motivation-tools.com Motivation Tool Chest motivation-tools.com Tall Ships & Self-Discovery by Captain Bob Webb Program Mission To inspire a dream and

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Motivation Tool Chest motivation-tools.com

Tall Ships & Self-Discovery

by Captain Bob Webb

Program Mission

To inspire a dream and fulfill it. Without a dream, nothing will happen.

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Tall Ships and Self-Discovery

Cover photo: Pride of Baltimore in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.

Overcoming barriers

Thinking outside the box

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Motivation Tool Chest motivation-tools.com

Written and Published by Captain Bob Webb

220 Ibis Lane Goose Creek, SC 29445

© Copyrighted 2007 by Robert L. Webb

This publication contains excerpts from the website

Motivation Tool Chest motivation-tools.com

The information in this publication is based on my experiences and resources that agrees with my experiences. This booklet is updated with each printing.

January 2017 Edition

Tall Ships & Self Discovery By Captain Bob Webb

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Table of Contents Education Based on the Laws of Nature 1 Search for our Ports of Paradise 2 Windjammers Inspire a Love-to-learn 3 Nature as an Instructor 4 The Need for Self-Discovery 6 A Teenager’s Desire to Excel 7 Comparing Learning Environments 9 Changing Needs for the 21st Century 10 Mission 11 Elements of Self-Discovery 12 The Clipper Schooner 13

Motivation Tools 14

Project Based Education 27

Motivation Charts 15 From Dreaming Zone to Success Zone 16 Seven Rules of Motivation 17 Three Elements of Motivation 18 Setting Goals 19 Overcoming Failure 23 Analyze Your Comfort Zone 25

Project Based Education 28 Learning Personality 31 Projects use the Learning Tools 35 The Learning Tools 37 Self-education 38 The Love-to-learn 39

How We Learn 41

How Information is Turned into Knowledge 42 Turing Information into Knowledge 43 Learning Opportunity versus Learning Personality 47 Workplace Leadership 50 Notes on Universal Intelligence 52 Goals and Comfort Zones 53 Polynesian Navigation 55

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Choose Your Life Style 92 Changing Lifestyle’s 93 How to Make Dreams Come True - My Story 95 About Bob Webb 99 Elements of a Successful Tall Ship Program 102 Sailing Ships Salute USA's 200th Birthday 106 Benefits of a Maritime Career 108

What Is Education? 57 Learning Efficiency 60 Skills & Learning Environments of Achievers 61 Visionary Students versus Non-Visionary Students 62 Earning Power 63 Products of Our Education System 64 Theme High Schools 65

High School Dropouts in the Real World 67 Teaching Young Students to be Failures 68 The Failure Label 70 A Teenager's Dilemma 71 Natural Talent and Opportunity 72 The Mindset of Street Gangs 73

Reality of High School Dropouts 66

Workplace Leadership 76

Workplace Leadership 78 Responsibility Increases Knowledge 79 Efficiency of Responsibility 80 Efficiency of Learning Opportunities 81 The Brain at Work 82 Elements of Visionary Leadership 83 Teams Are Efficiency Machines 86 Technical Schools & Natural Talent 89

Lifestyles 91

Education Systems 56

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Education Based on the Laws of Nature

Goal: To inspire a lifelong love-to-learn

Exposure to ideas leads to research.

Research leads to projects.

Projects leads to self-education – a lifelong activity.

Self-education leads to self-discovery of our natural talent.

Discovery of our natural talent is the power that’s motivates us.

Motivation leads to a love-to-learn.

A love-to-learn inspires us to develop a dream or goal.

Implementing a goal leads to opportunity.

Opportunity leads to failure and bouncing back until we get it right – developing persistence.

Personal achievement opens doors to opportunity beyond our wildest dreams.

We are aboard the ship that carries us to personal achievement.

Discovery of natural talent inspires a love-to-learn.

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Projects — The Motivator

Projects require a goal where students must search for a method, acquire skills and knowledge, accept failure and bounce back from it, and keep trying until the goal is achieved. They learn through experiences, more important, they learn how to research and apply knowledge. Success is measured by the complexity of the project and the ability to finish it. This type of education motivates one to learn more about the world we live in while creating a lifetime love-to-learn. The laws' of nature is the motivator and instructor.

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Windjammers Inspire a Love-to-learn I was captain of a windjammer training program for teenagers and witnessed the

dynamic power of team involvement. All crew members learned to how to sail, how to work together and how to accomplish personal goals. They learn to trust themselves as well as others. When man is challenging the wind and the sea, barriers come down and team involvement soars.

Ocean sailing is an educational opportunity where the curriculum is controlled by nature. The crew and ship must work in harmony with nature. When underway, there is the never-ending task of learning how the interaction of the vessel reacts with fluid dynamics and the atmosphere. The crew becomes comfortable with cause and effect, as well as persistence, endurance, patience, and courage — attitudes that are almost impossible to teach in a classroom.

A tall ship is a disciplinary learning machine. Learning and applying the maritime “rules of the road” are necessary for safety and comfort. Navigation and piloting are important for math and chart reading skills. Crew members must consider options, select a destination, plan how to get there efficiently and safely, and then DO IT? Ocean sailing presents real problems that require real solutions that must be dealt with right away. At sea, the results of the crews’ decisions are experienced NOW! And the reasons for the decision are understood NOW! There is no way to cheat, lie, or take shortcuts. Nature does not allow its laws to be broken. Crew members soon realize that successful decision making skills are based on the laws of nature.

Sailing is an environment that must be operated with both mind and muscle. Some of the tasks such as raising sails require team effort, physically pulling together, whereas other tasks, such as steering the vessel, may only be done by one person at a time, acting alone, yet in harmony with the whole ship. The rules under which these systems function are both simple and demanding. They are not the rules of the teacher, or the school board, or the government, but rather, the rules of nature. Nature’s laws do not create failures. Nature’s laws demand respect and honesty. Team members do not let team mates fail. Teammates also demand respect and honesty.

Life at sea stimulates dreams, which in turn promotes aggressive motivation — man’s natural desire is to survive. With survival instincts activated in a hostile environment, dreams take on a new meaning. Looking out to the edge of the visible world, you can’t help but wonder what life is like in ports below the horizon. Standing for hours at the helm, you can’t help but think of ways to take control of your life. The secret to success is found by using all the mental and physical skills that are experienced under towering sails, starlit nights, and pounding seas. Windjammers inspire a love-to-learn.

Canal Zone training schooner Chief Aptakisic at sea.

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Nature as an Instructor Nature teaches people how to learn, not what to learn. What man learns from nature

depends on his goals, whether it be farmer, concept thinker, or sailor. The forces of nature can assist in achieving those goals. Nature as an instructor brings man’s natural learning skills together — self-education, experiential education, and perceptive insight. Students learn to work in harmony in a temperamental, sometimes hostile environment.

Nature has laws that are friendly if understood and respected. It works hard when quality decisions are based on its laws. It can be harsh if its laws are not respected or understood. Nature does not allow cheating, shortcuts, lying, or influence. It establishes a level playing field for everyone. If a man feels he must be dishonest in order to get ahead, he will be humbled when working with the forces’ of nature.

If a farmer plows his field with rows up and down a hill, nature will wash topsoil and seeds into a gully. Nature did just what the farmer didn’t want. If the field is plowed parallel to the slope, the soil will hold water and have time to soak into the ground. Seeds will grow. Farmers analyze nature’s habits and find ways to work in harmony with nature. Analyzing nature’s laws is a powerful learning tool for achieving harmony.

When students come aboard a windjammer for the first time, they think only of themselves and “What’s-in-it-for-me,” attitudes. Ten days later, students think as a team with attitudes of “How-can-I-support-the-team?” Peer influence motivates them to assume responsibility. Also, at sea, students experience the awesome power of nature and realize it is the boss. This is experienced very quickly by a free sheet whipping in the wind. The inexperienced student will be thrashed by it until he gets it under control. A thrashing by a loose sail creates instant respect for the force of nature. After that, he evaluates the elements honestly and faces up to his limitations. He thinks ahead, planning how to keep sails and lines under control. He is learning the laws of nature and how to use its powerful force.

Goals aboard sailing vessels are automatic, “to reach the next port safely by using the power of nature.” Preparations before a voyage determines the level of comfort or problems a crew will have at sea. If there is a lack of proper equipment and/or shortcut installation,

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resulting problems could cause tremendous discomfort and/or damage. Unpredictable wind and seas are the bosses’ that create the workload. A smooth running vessel does not use shortcuts or dishonest work habits. Jobs must be done right. If not, the boss (nature) will increase volume and magnitude of problems until they are done right. Money, personal power or status quo has no influence. The crew, its skills, and resources available to them are their only tools, they cannot depend on outside help to solve problems. Problems accrue because something wasn’t done right. Blaming them on nature solves nothing. Quality decisions prevent problems. The results, the crew learns to make quality decisions and work as a team.

Team peer influence motivates students to learn all they can about their task and the ship. Sharing information reduces accidents, problems, and increases performance. Learning to analyze what works and does not work makes tasks easier. Natures’ power teaches crewmembers how to make good decisions, develop self-control and to accept responsibility. When team members learn to work in harmony with nature, life becomes highly motivating. In ten days time, they have discovered a more exciting life by working in harmony with their fellow man. Nature was the instructor.

Caption Bob somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean aboard the Liki Tiki Too.

Discovery of Natural Talent Discovery of our natural talent is easy for those that live in an environment that

supports it. For people with natural talent that is alien to their environment, discovering it is difficult. Tall ships and the maritime environment represent hundreds of professions and skills in science, nature, engineering, mechanics, seamanship, and more. Exposure to this environment can help people discover their natural talent or discover additional talents they did not know they had. A person that succeeds in the business world or advance on the job is because their skills are in harmony with their natural talent, knowingly or unknowingly. These people developed a lifetime love-to-learn. Expanding skills over a lifetime brings prosperity.

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The Need for Self-Discovery For many teenagers, their only experience in life is with asphalt, walls, high tech

entertainment and the struggle for power to control others. They develop a relationship with a man-made world that is based on materialism and greed. They learn nothing about being in

harmony with the forces of nature.

Put a teenager at sea aboard a tall ship for ten days and they will discover a world that is in harmony with their natural ambitions — the desire to explore and discover their true capabilities. Nature becomes their true teacher and motivator.

Discovery — the Mission of Windjammers At one time in history, windjammers were used for world exploration, discovery and the accumulation of wealth. Today they are used for self-discovery and quality lifestyle. Sailing vessels have always been an endless source

of inspiration and awe, stirring images of both romantic splendor and monumental fear. Rookies are amazed at their ability to work in harmony with the forces of nature.

Sailing vessels were the first powered vehicle that taught man how to use nature to achieve physical goals. With the invention of the sail, it became possible to sail hundreds, then thousands of miles from the home port and return. Early long voyages were in the business of trade. The discovery of continents, ports and sea-lanes were important byproducts of these early explorations.

Christopher Columbus bust through society’s self-imposed beliefs that the world had limits. When he burst through these limits, he inspired in others a desire to learn more about the world we live in, which further led to missions of exploration and discovery.

Granddad and grandson at the helm of the Pride of Baltimore.

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As steam engines replaced sails, the age of discovery under sail became a thing of the past, but not for long.

Up until the start of the twentieth century, 98% of the world population lived on farms. Their daily lives revolved around the forces of nature and this daily contact helped people discover themselves. Man was designed to work in harmony with nature. By the end of the twentieth century, 95% of the world population lives in cities. The influence of nature on man became minimal. To replace this influence vacuum, man looked to counselors for guidance. Their success was spotty. Through lack of understanding the complexities of man’s emotions, the needs of many teenagers are not addressed — they rebelled and engaged in self-destructive activities.

Today, windjammers are reconnecting man to nature. In this environment, man can discover himself and plot a course of action. Self-discovery allows one to burst through self-imposed limitations and be the person he dreamed of being. Nature is the counselor, instructor and motivator.

Windjammers are Nature’s Learning Machines Aboard sailing vessels, good leadership grows from being able to take direction, pull

your share, be a team player, and be absolutely responsible. There must also be the ability to trust that others will be responsible. Learning to trust and be depended on by team members motivates one to excel.

Life aboard a tall ship builds leadership skills, the qualities of stewardship, resourcefulness, pride in one’s work, humility, bravery, strength, and grace. The experience also imparts a reverence for nature and an appreciation of history, while developing a new romance that will change a life forever.

The Pride of Baltimore arriving in Charleston, South Carolina.

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Once teenagers leave classroom environ-ments, society has no influence over the paths they will choose.

A one-education system for all is not feasi-ble. These teenagers need alternatives, be-coming involved with hands on projects, where academics’ is a byproduct.

Non-intellectuals need opportunity to dis-cover their natural talent, whether it be art-ist, mechanical or other.

Teams are learning machines where mem-bers share knowledge to achieve a common goal. Team intelligence is the most power-ful education force known to man. Street gangs adapt this power to conduct criminal activity.

Many teenagers could be redirected from gangs if a team-learning environment was available.

If a teenager drops out of high school — that does not have to be the end of the world for them. These teens should be in-structed in the techniques of self-education and team education. BUT, how can a sys-tem tell about alternatives when they give the impression there are no alternatives?

Super achievers develop a love-to-learn with self-motivated projects. This is the secret to the success of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. They all had limited formal education.

A Teenager’s Desire to Excel Every teenager has a natural burning desire to learn, excel, and be somebody. If they are not achieving this in a positive way in their current environment, they will find an outlet in a different environment.

For intellectual teenagers, the education system inspires a vision, helps them discover their natural talent, opportunity to develop it, and then helps them find their first job, thereby, helping them to fulfill their natural desire to excel. The system does NOT do the same for non-intellectuals.

For non-intellectuals, the education system labels them failures because they cannot master academics like intellectuals.

These students are told they are failures 5 times a day, 5 days a week for as long as they can remember. No one likes being labeled a failure. At the first opportunity, they walk away from the system and then search for ways to relieve the stress that is caused by negative labels.

Teenagers, who discovered how to educate themselves, will also discover their natural talent, without outside help. They will find their own opportunity, usually in the blue-collar world, thereby, fulfilling their desire to excel.

Teenagers, who accept and believe the opinions of others, that they are failures, simply give up and become a burden on society. They turn to drugs to KILL their natural desire to excel and be somebody.

Teenagers, who learn best in team environments and depend on others for support, join highly motivated street gangs and enter into crime, thereby, fulfilling their desire to excel.

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Comparing Learning Environments

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Changing Needs for the 21st Century Sharing knowledge to achieve a common goal is a powerful learning tool that in-

creases the intelligence level of all participants. Following orders has limited education value. An education environment that emulate the workplace environment is the future.

The 21st century is bringing drastic changes in the education system and the workplace. Students will no longer learn by following orders and workers will no longer follow orders without responsibility. Following orders, without input or understanding why, results in low efficiency. Teams with decision-making responsibility can achieve this goal, by sharing knowl-edge to achieve a common goal. The team is inspired and motivated to learn. The learning tool; learning by doing. This is a powerful learning environment because:

v Every teenager has a burning desire to learn, excel and be somebody.

v Three motivated people with a common goal, debating pros and cons, are sharing knowledge that inspires participants to excel.

With project based education, it becomes the student’s responsibility to develop and re-search projects and develop a plan of action, not the instructor’s alone. With worker responsi-bility, it becomes the worker’s responsibility to solve and prevent problems and find the best method to complete jobs, not management alone.

Many students have natural talents for vocational skills and they can be motivated to excel by their discovery. Discovery of natural talent is the birth of the super motivated. Project based education can achieve this goal.

The Need for Worker Responsibility During the twentieth century, leadership was by command-and-control. Under control

leadership, top management establishes the goals. This requires middle management to be deci-sion makers that give orders to carry out the goals. The front line carries out the orders without input. This excessive chain of command produces low efficiency at all levels.

Today, businesses are eliminating middle management and moving responsibility to the front line, thereby, training them to be highly efficient decision makers. Quality decisions are the result of workplace learning opportunity. A united workforce becomes team intelligence that can produce quality decisions. In this environment, intelligence of the workforce expands, because everyone is sharing knowledge, they are engaged, and what they do makes a difference.

What is the Tall Ship Connection? During the age of world exploration, tall ships were used to discover unknown conti-

nents and islands. These discoveries inspired a desire to learn more about the world we live in. Today, tall ships are used for self-discovery. Experience aboard a tall ship helps participants become aware of their capabilities and inspires them to search for ways to develop them. In this environment, it is easy to understand and adapt the concepts outlined in this website.

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Mission To Create Opportunity for Self-Discovery Exploring and discovery awakens our inner

self, creating a desire to learn more about the world around us, setting in motion a vision. A vision is the source of all achievement.

To develop a love-to-learn that stays throughout a lifetime. People who maintain a love-to-learn are the people who change the world.

To discover and develop natural talent. Discovery of one’s natural talent is like a fast moving freight train, there is no stopping its development.

To change attitudes from passive mode to discovery mode. Better yet, to self-discovery mode, which allows one to break through self-imposed limits. We can rise no higher than the limits we place on ourselves.

Adventure is a powerful learning environment. It inspires a vision, which in turn inspires a love-to-learn.

People who take charge of their life do not let barriers, built by others, stop them from achieving their goals. Through self-reliance and self-development, there emerges a tremendous feeling of resourcefulness, pride, fortitude and superiority which form the basic elements of motivation.

Windjammer programs teach self-reliance and techniques to overcome barriers that are thrown in the way by others. Freedom from self-imposed limits allows us to reach a higher ground.

The alternative to self-reliance is team inspiration where all members are equal and the team has authority to make decisions. Three motivated people, united in a common goal, debating pros and cons, sharing knowledge, will learn extremely fast. The inspired team will have the power to overcome mountainous barriers regardless of their education background. Peer influence is a powerful educational tool.

Microsoft Corporation was started by inexperienced teenagers, who had the ability to share knowledge, and to overcome impossible barriers. In a similar fashion, teenage gangs share knowledge to engage in criminal behavior. In both examples, teenagers had a strong desire to learn, but were in conflict with classroom environments. Their direction was related to opportunity.

Windjammer programs teach teamwork and the art of sharing knowledge. The experience offers opportunity for self-discovery.

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Elements of Self-Discovery People who have a vision control their destiny and lifestyle.

For people without a vision, their destiny and lifestyle is controlled by others.

Leadership & Responsibility Self-responsibility Team responsibility Team leadership Delegating responsibility Taking charge of one’s own life

Tools for sharing knowledge Team education Learn by teaching Bragging, socializing Conflict and debate Tools for collecting knowledge Self-education Research and analyzing Learn by doing, trial and error Intuitive instincts

Social Influence Social prejudice Self-fulfilling prophecy Team associates

Character Development Self-development Self-dependency Positive self-esteem

Awareness Goals Awareness of character development techniques. Awareness of project learning methods. Awareness of changing leadership styles in business.

Values Stewardship - Taking responsibility for oneself and the social

environment they live in. Survival aboard windjammers requires responsibility.

Integrity - Being honest toward oneself and their fellow man. Windjammers work in harmony with nature. There is no way to lie, cheat or take shortcuts.

Teamwork - Harnessing the power of team motivation. Tasks are achievable when teams work in harmony with each other and with the forces of nature.

Excellence - Whatever we do, do it right. Jobs done right the first time promotes harmony between crew members and the ship.

Service - To support others as they work to fulfill their goals. Assume responsibility without orders. Aboard windjammers there is always someone who needs assistance.

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The Clipper Schooner The Baltimore Clipper class of ships are rated the most beautiful sailing vessels ever

built. Their beauty is a source of inspiration, with the ability of stirring lifelong dreams into action.

The word “clipper” seems to have been derived from an old slang phrase meaning to move fast; “to clip along” or “to move at a fast clip.” The schooner’s rapid development started about 1746. By 1790, the schooner was the national rig of both the United States and Canada.

Baltimore Clippers are modified Chesapeake Bay coastal trading schooners. Their efficiency became famous during the war of 1812 when the State Governments authorized, with letters of marque, private ship owners to capture British ships for profit, thus the term privateers. In addition to a private navy, the state of South Carolina, the Continental Congress commissioned several privateers that used Charleston as a base of operations. In August of 1776, the first vessel officially commissioned was the sloop Swift.

Private and highly individualistic cruises rarely found their way into official records. What records were kept, few survived. Some facts are obvious; these men combined patriotism with profits. British vessels were blockading the U.S. east coast and the government did not have resources for an efficient navy to protect shipping lanes. Private merchants filled the gap.

Privateers were not pirates. Pirates only motive was to plunder for greed from vessels of any flag. After the war of 1812 some privateers became pirates.

Authors Note: I have suggested the clipper-schooner for youth motivation programs because of her beauty and ability to inspire awe. Secondly, this type of vessel has been extensively researched and drawings are available for modern day construction.

Lithograph print of EXPERIMENT, 1812 by Melbourne Smith

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Motivation Tools

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#1 Set a major goal, but follow a path. The path has mini goals that travel in many directions. When you learn to succeed at mini goals, you will be able to succeed at grand goals.

#2 Finish what you start. A half finished project is of no use to anyone. Quitting is a habit. Develop the habit of finishing self-motivated projects.

#3 Socialize with others of similar interest. Mutual support is motivating. We will develop the attitudes of our five best friends. If they are losers, we will be a loser. If they are winners, we will be a winner. To be a cowboy we must associate with cowboys.

#4 Learn how to learn. Dependency on others for knowledge supports the habit of procrastination. Man has the ability to learn without instructors. In fact, when we learn the art of self-education, we will find, if not create, opportunity to find success beyond our wildest dreams.

#5 Harmonize natural talent with interest that motivates. Natural talent creates motivation, motivation creates persistence and persistence gets the job done.

#6 Increase knowledge of subjects that inspires. The more we know about a subject, the more we want to learn about it. A self-propelled upward spiral develops.

#7 Take risk. Failure and bouncing back are elements of success. Failure is a learning tool. No one has ever succeeded at anything worthwhile without a string of failures.

Seven Rules of Motivation

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Three Elements of Motivation Motivation starts with the desire

to be free, to be free from dependency on others, freedom to live the lifestyle we dream of, freedom to explore our ideas. Total freedom is not possible or desirable, but the struggle to achieve that ideal is the basis for motivation.

Motivation is built on three basic elements:

1. Motivation starts with a need, vision, dream or desire to achieve the seemingly impossible. Creativity is associated with ideas, projects, and goals, which can be considered a path to freedom.

2. Maintaining a love-to-learn lifestyle. Individuals who become involved with risky ventures and/or continually seek new opportunities learn what works and does not work.

3. Maintaining a desire to overcome barriers and to bounce back from discouragement or failure. Individuals learn to tolerate the agony failure brings. In any endeavor that is worthwhile, barriers and failure will be there. Bouncing back requires creative thinking as it is a learning process. In addition, bouncing back requires starting again at number one.

A loss of any one part and motivation is on the rocks. For example; 1. If you like to be creative and love-to-learn but cannot face up to failure, you will not go

back and try again. Persistent motivation is associated with bouncing back from failure.

2. If you have a unique idea but don’t like taking risks, ideas’ is all you will ever have.

3. There must be something in your life that turns you on. Some people work harder at finding it than others. You can start by analyzing the lifestyle you wish you could live. Remember, money is not a goal, it is a reward for achieving a dream.

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Setting Goals The common formula for success is: "Set a goal and a time-frame for achieving it." The

goal is what you want to achieve and the time frame is to help you stay focused on the goal. Perseverance brings success."

In the above statement, the term "time frame" has conditions. Three basic elements must be under full control - skills, resources, and support. A completion date cannot be established with weak or missing elements.

Elements

Skills - knowledge, experience, natural talent

Super achievers have ambitions and goals that are in harmony with their natural talents. Someone who has natural a talent for composing music will have a low efficiency rating developing mechanical designs. Someone who has natural talent for mechanical designs will have a low efficiency rating for composing music. (There are exceptions, but they are rare.) It is important to discover your natural talent and set goals that are in harmony with it. This discovery may be difficult, but it is generally related to personal interest or what motivates you.

Resources - ownership, resources, money

Money is a very important resource that must be managed wisely. You cannot control resources if creditors are in control. Super achievers have learned to live within their means.

Support - people, organizations

Socialize with people who have similar interest.

Examples Contractors that bid on jobs must have required skills, resources and support in place.

They cannot hope they are doing it right or have the required resources. Success depends on accurate estimates of cost and job time.

Businesses that succeed have all elements in place. Many new entrepreneurs fail because they lack one or more of the elements. Lack of knowledge and experience is the primary reason for failure. However, failure is a learning tool and persistence will acquire all the elements for success.

Education organizations apply all the elements needed for student success. There is a goal and a time frame to reach that goal. All a student has to do is accept the terms.

Most major goals require mini goals. Acquiring skills can be considered a mini goal. The same can be said for resources. When a new entrepreneur finally puts it all together and succeeds, he is elated and starts setting bigger goals. At this time, the process starts all over again. With experience on what it takes to get it right, setbacks are not as severe.

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Pitfalls for the inexperienced - When we observer a professional achieving results, we think, "I can do that, look how easy it is." Should we try to do the same thing, we soon discover that success is the result of skills, hard work and persistence. This is why people fall for get-rich-quick offers. It is presented in a way that looks simple and easy, only to discover it does not work that way. When the money is gone, there is little to show for it.

To do - Set a goal and strive to achieve that goal no matter how long it takes. With similar goals in the future, you will have the skills needed to set a time frame for achievement.

Perseverance Perseverance depends on many factors with the primary factor being the power of your

dreams. Money is one of the barriers that can be overcome. Achievement requires developing attitudes/habits that keep you on track. Example, develop a habit of getting jobs done with resources available. With this skill, creativity will eliminate many money problems. Persistence is a combination of factors such as a burning desire and pride, that programs the comfort zone to pressure us to keep bouncing back. We try again, but in a different direction. It is important to implement many motivational tools so the project will keep moving when we don’t feel like it. In time, perseverance will drive us even when the going becomes strenuous and we wish the project would go away. We all have times of weakness. Persistence may seem steady in others, but in reality, it flows like the ocean tide.

The common argument for failure is "I lost interest or I didn’t have enough money." While true, neither one is valid.

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Fantasizing Fantasizing is a startup tool to precondition the mind to believe it must achieve a

clearly defined goal. Fantasizing is creating pictures in our mind on how we would react to events if our dream were real. Fantasizing has several important elements.

Fantasizing creates a burning desire.

Fantasizing prepares our mind to accept opportunity when it arrives. Without this preparation we would not recognizes opportunity or if we did, fear would set in and we would reject it.

Fantasizing is a type of business plan written in our head. Questions are being asked, what will it take to make this idea work and how will problems be handled?

People, who seem to make quality decisions when everything goes wrong, had fantasized theses problems during the years when their idea was just a dream. To illustrate how fantasizing programs our mind, I will use an experience my wife and I had aboard our 50-foot sailboat Hunky-Dory. We were sailing from North Carolina to Bermuda when, after dark, the wind was blowing above 60 knots and the main sail was still up. If I didn’t get the sail down the mast would come down. Waves were coming aboard and covering our ports. From inside the cabin we could see the underside of waves. I had never experienced this kind of wind or seas except by fantasizing.

I said to my wife, "I must go on deck and take the sails down."

She hollered, "Don’t go on deck." She had never thought about a situation like this and her first reaction was to make believe nothing damaging would happen.

I said, "I must go topside into the storm, there is no choice. If the mast comes down we will be helpless."

I put on my safety harness and crawled to the bow. With tremendous wind pressure on the sail, I had to winch down the main sail. My wife stood in the partly open hatch and helped by pulling on the sheets. If she fell, she would fall into the cabin, not in the ocean. My confidence gave her confidence and we got the sail down. In my youth, I fantasized situation like this. This time it was not fantasy, it was real.

Fantasizing during the years before opportunity is the difference between can-do leaders in a crisis and followers. It prepares people for the day when dreams become reality. I prepared my mind to accept the fact that being lost at sea is a real possibility. Accepting the worst makes risk possible. And we must take risk in order to succeed.

Burning Desire A burning desire is the result of active fantasizing. It puts powerful motivating forces

into action. It can overcome all self-imposed limits. Natural skills and learning methods may be barriers, but they are temporary. It has more potential than any education system can offer, because, to succeed, knowledge is needed to be the best we can be. If there is a destiny, this is where it starts.

Sometimes a dramatic personal impact, known or unknown causes a burning desire. This experience reveals a need for more information or services to help deal with it. Trying to

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understand, leads to knowledge, action, and/or opportunity. Sometimes it is necessary or advantages to take action before knowledge is acquired. In any case, a dramatic experience is highly motivating and all stops should be removed to benefit from it.

We all have a basic desire to be lazy. This is a powerful motivating force because we dream of being lazy and we work hard to fulfill that dream. It doesn’t sound right, but it’s true. People work hard to be lazy. Then there are people who don’t dream about being lazy, they are.

Two types of laziness: Constructive laziness increases creative skills because we don’t like to do more work

than necessary. People search for the easiest way to get jobs done. They also work hard for opportunity, to enjoy what life has to offer. The desire to be lazy is a motivating force.

Destructive laziness is associated with people who are not motivated, the desire to do less takes over. They feel robbed of opportunity and the world passes them by.

One of my goals was to sail to the South Pacific, chase girls and lay under coconut trees. I worked hard to achieve that dream. Once in the South Pacific, I found sitting under coconut trees had no challenge and I was in the habit of seeking new challenging projects. Also, I was married, which nicked the girl chasing idea. Anyhow, my dream got me to the South Pacific in my sailboat, which was the primary goal. Many people readjust priorities when they face reality. In the meantime, dreaming produces perseverance with positive results.

People seeking to excel have continuous barriers to overcome. People who flow with the crowd are not confronted with barriers,

they take the path of least resistance. Very often these people fall into a pit. It takes more self-discipline to crawl out of a pit

than it does to overcome barriers. Maxing out credit cards is an example of a pit. Establishing a business is an example of

overcoming barriers.

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Overcoming Failure Failure Can Be Positive or Negative

Failure is a learning tool. Thomas Edison failed a thousand times before he invented the light bulb. Failure is trying to do things others have not considered. It is a temporary byproduct of creativity. It is challenging the learning process. It is experiential education at work. The real winners in life tolerate failure and the agony it produces. Success is achieved by those who are willing to take risk and lose.

Many people choose to engage in occupations and activities that are safe and conventional. They do not deliver satisfaction, fulfillment or joy in living. Their real failure is failing to move in the directions of their dreams.

Bouncing Back From Failure Do you see the possibilities of an idea, project or goal? Are you experiencing barriers

that prevents fulfillment? With every idea, there are barriers, hundreds of them, if not more.

If you vision something that is different from everyone else, there are two reasons, you have an idea that few have considered or it is not practical. How do you tell good ideas from bad one’s, research and listening to people’s reasons why it won’t work? As a rule, no one will support an original idea until there is sufficient evidence that it is practical. Even when proving it is practical, people may reject it. Fifty years after the light bulb was invented, some people still rejected it. You have to do all the legwork to find evidence. If you find evidence, skills and resources must be acquired at the same time everyone is telling you the idea is dumb. This is a very difficult barrier to overcome. You see the possibilities and potential of a project while everyone else sees the risk and barriers. Also note, there is no success where research, facing up to pros and cons, is not extensive. Evaluate negative opinions to stay on the right track. Without negative opinions, it is easy to stray off course. The original concept of the light bulb was a dumb idea.

Negative opinions can discourage one to give up. For this reason, it becomes necessary to limit exposure of the project to people who can help, even if they disapprove. Even a select group will not see the potential until you succeed. When you do succeed, others will no longer see the barriers, they are gone, they will want to know how you did it.

What if the idea turns into a total failure? You learned a lot and next time you may get it right and succeed. No achiever has arrived without failure.

Most franchise, copying ideas and get-rich-quick schemes can be deadly traps. They come with high approval rating and no negative opinions. Their success is praised while the facts may be distorted. People believe what they want to, and easy success is what we want to hear. For this reason, there is little independent research, which leads to disaster. What if the fantastic project turns into total failure? What does it feel like to be a sucker? Buying into a promotion is like playing the lottery, there is no way to learn how to buy a winning lottery ticket.

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Failure is a learning tool. Our first reaction to failure is to blame anyone/anything but ourselves. If we perceive others are to blame, then there is nothing we can do to correct the problem. We cannot change people’s personalities, neither can they change ours. If we assume responsibility, then we can analyze what went wrong and take corrective action. This is the art of bouncing back from failure.

Failure is discouraging, it drains energy and resources, but it forces us to do things right. Failure separates those who think they want success from those who are determined to win. Failure narrows the playing field. The first people out are those that blame others, next out are those who lost interest. The weak go first. The strong learn to hang in there and keep bouncing back until they win.

Sometimes failure is telling us we are going in the wrong direction. Here’s the dilemma. If we give up, is it because we were going in the wrong direction or because we gave up? The only way to tell is to abandon the project or put it to rest for a time. Very often, this is forced on us because we are out of money or resources. When the mind is free of pressures, realistic planning emerges. This lull was not wasted, it had great benefit, it is the art of redirection. When you try again, chances are you will get it right. New outlook’s is the result of bouncing back from failure.

The Desire to Fail For some reason, man has a natural desire to fail. This desire is difficult to identify

because it is fulfilled in subtle ways. For example: People will max-out credit cards on trivia, creating debts that makes it impossible to fulfill their deepest dreams. They gamble when they know the odds are against them.

A habit of success requires the ability to recognize elements that destroy. The man that makes $30,000 fears risk. The man who makes $1,000,000 accepts risk. In the early stages, everyone in subtle ways fears risk and failure. Fears, whatever they are, must be faced up too and dealt with. Fantasizing can help accomplish this by creating a burning desire that is more powerful than fear.

Leaders, who demand control over others, are teaching them to fail and ultimately themselves. It is easy to control people who accept the belief that they are failures. In this situation, the motivation tool is reward and punishment. The intent may be to motivate people to cooperate, but very often the results remind people they are failures and many accept this as fact. Disciplinary action means internal motivation has not worked and external motivation is reverted to. In business, the long-term results could be deadly. Self-fulfilling prophecy takes over.

“If everything you do works, you are not trying hard enough.”

"I want to find people who have had to work hard and who have learned from their failures. Perseverance is no guarantee you'll succeed, but without it, it's

almost guaranteed you won't"

Steve Case, CEO of America on Line

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Analyze Your Comfort Zone The Comfort Zone is our living, work, and social environments that we have grown accustom too. It determines the type of friends we make or people we

associate with. It determines a life style we accept or reject.

Young people are very adaptable, they can adjust to changing comfort zones with ease. They can socialize with homeless people in the morning and be equally at east at a formal banquet in the evening. As we age, the ability to adapt to wide-ranging comfort zones, becomes more difficult. Social prejudice narrows the comfort zone range. Our present comfort zone is in one of the following conditions.

We want to maintain our current comfort zone.

We are dissatisfied with current conditions and want to move to another comfort zone.

We were suddenly thrust from our comfort zone and want back in.

We need to make decisions without supporting facts. The comfort zone can be a decision making tool.

If you were content with your current comfort zone, you would not be reading this booklet. Because you are reading, it is assumed you want to make some changes in the way you live and work. That brings us to step two. If you are dissatisfied with your life style, you can change it by changing your comfort zone.

Comfort zones are directly related to our dreams or goals, which is associated with self-fulfilling prophecy. In order to grow and change, we must first be discontent with our current comfort zone. To change to different life style, establishing a business, or succeeding at a challenging project, we must realize that all meaningful and lasting changes occur first in daydreaming (fantasizing) and then they work their way into reality. If we clearly and vividly imagine ourselves being and having the things we truly want, we will create a new picture of ourselves. The old comfort zone, in time, will be unacceptable and we will find ways to acquire the new.

For example, if we want to sail the South Pacific in our own sailboat, we must clearly and vividly, image ourselves sitting in the cockpit of our boat and think about the challenge this environment would bring. This includes accepting the dangers along with the pleasures. The key to upgrading our comfort zone is to raise our self-image and level of what we expect or want first, then we will find opportunity to make the goal reality.

The more clearly and vividly we fantasize our dream, with frequent repetitions and emotional impact, the stronger and more real the pictures on the subconscious level will become. Once our subconscious accepts this image and its expectation, the subconscious will go to work, searching for a way to bring it into reality. If we feel that these things are too good for us, we will find ways to fail. If, however, we intentionally use our imagination to:

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Imagine the change we want.

Build an expectation of the change.

Mentally and emotionally, prepare ourselves for the change by anticipating what it will be like.

We will find ways to acquire dream and, when mentally ready, it will arrive faster than we ever thought possible. In effect, what we are doing is deliberately preparing for self-fulfilling prophecy. As has been repeated many times, "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve."

For some people, problems, suffering, poverty, bad breaks are their comfort zone. Try to take away these problems and they will fight back. They find comfort in finding fault and complaining about their misfortune. The same is true for businesses. Daily crisis, employees making bad decisions, accidents, trivial problems, confrontation between management and workers is a workforce comfort zone. Management and workers have grown accustom to seeing things go wrong and expect them too. Management finds comfort in finding fault with workers and workers find comfort in finding fault with management.

Negative comfort zones can be overcome by setting and thinking about positive goals. What we think about all day and what we expect, be it positive or negative, is our comfort zone.

Note: If the comfort zone we are seeking is beyond our current income, then, we need to develop a service that has greater value than our current one. Money, power and influence are not goals, they are rewards ONLY for personal achievement.

We become what we think about all day. If we are focused on our goal, we will achieve it. If we spend all day thinking about our debts – debts is all we ever have. In this case, creditors are controlling our lives. The only way to stop

thinking about debts is to get them under control and then you can focus on your goals.

A person does not know what they are capable of until they try. Trying and failing is better than not trying at all.

Remember - Money, power and influence are not goals – they are rewards ONLY for personal achievement.

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Project Based Education

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Project Based Education What do these people have in common? Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas

Edison, Henry Ford, The Wright Brothers’, Frank Sinatra, and Elvis Presley. They all educated themselves with self-motivated projects. Academics was a byproduct that was acquired as needed and at the level needed to achieve their goal. These people were in conflict with classroom environments. They succeeded because they discovered their learning personality and built a career based on that discovery. Education that is based on projects is highly motivating and is man’s natural learning process. Everyone could live a productive lifestyle, only if they had opportunity to discover their learning personality. Project based education can give students that opportunity.

The Project Based Education program is based on what interests and motivates the student. Because the instructor cannot customize lesson plans for each student, he must implement student responsibility. It becomes the student’s responsibility to develop and research projects and develop a plan of action. The instructor acts as a coach or facilitator. Instructors take an interest in students’ projects instead of students having to take an interest in topics handed down by administrators.

If teenagers, who are in conflict with the classroom, had opportunity to learn with projects, our society would produce a new class of highly productive taxpayers. As of now, most of these students will be a burden on society at taxpayers’ expense. The newspapers are full of “help wanted” ads for craftsmen. Project based education can supply this demand.

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Today’s education system is based on academics and tests are used as a measuring tool to gauge progress. The tests are based on subjects that are of interest to test writers, not necessarily students. Many cannot associate test questions with the real world. This is especially true for students with creative minds that are searching for alternatives.

Projects require a goal where students must search for a method, acquire skills and knowledge, accept failure and bounce back from it, and keep trying until the goal is achieved. They learn through experiences, more important, they learn how to research and apply knowledge. Success is measured by the complexity of the project and the ability to finish it. This type of education motivates one to learn more about the world we live in while creating a lifetime love-to-learn — the laws’ of nature are the motivator and instructor. Positive self-esteem is one of many byproducts.

Three types of projects: 1. Class or Instructor Motivated - In this case, the instructor initiates the project and sets the

goal. Competition type projects are effective. Some students may need to be taught the art of project development before they are assigned to smaller groups.

2. Team Motivated - A team of 2 to 5 members agree on a common interest project. With teams, the opportunity to share knowledge has a powerful influence on team members. It motivates others to find ways to contribute information or skills. When things go wrong, strong team members can support and encourage the weaker ones. Support from associates is a powerful force. Peer pressure motivates all to excel.

3. Self-Motivated - Some students are independent, strong-willed and have a natural talent with projects. They might do best on their own.

Projects make it possible to offer a wide verity of subjects, determined by the interest of the students. In this environment, a student has greater opportunity to find a project that is in harmony with his learning personality. All teenagers want to learn, be creative and productive, but they need opportunity.

Benefits of Projects: Projects make it possible to discover one’s natural talent and personal interest.

Projects have a goal that is based on man’s desire to be a winner. Self-satisfaction is a powerful motivator.

Projects require a plan, which includes ways to acquire needed knowledge and skills.

Successful projects are the results of failure and learning to bounce back from it.

Projects have all the motor skills that it takes to start and run a business or become a valuable employee, skilled or unskilled.

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Society must abandon the belief that: students must meet a predetermined level of academic standards by a selected age.

(everyone is different) students who don’t meet those standards are failures for life. (they aren’t) all students can learn in a passive environment (listening to lectures). (they can’t) all students can relate classroom studies to real world experiences. (they can’t) standardized test measures knowledge and/or potential success level. (it doesn’t) number of years spent in classrooms and class grade level determines success level

in the real world. (it doesn’t) academics must be mastered before other opportunity is offered. (some people

learning be doing) teenagers are not mature enough to make decisions that determine their destiny.

(give them a chance)

Academic based education is designed to remove barriers and promote a productive lifestyle. This is true for a majority of students. For the others, through self-fulfilling prophecy, academic priority builds barriers. Self-fulfilling prophecy has a powerful influence on youth and when they are told they are failures for most of their young lives, they believe it and act accordingly. This belief inspires rebellion and builds mental barriers that are (almost) impossible overcome. Project based education can give them a chance for achievement.

Education and worker responsibility is the future. Our society is becoming too complex for authority control programs to be efficient, including teachers and supervisors. There are too many alternatives for leadership to comprehend let alone implement. People who are directly affected by the process are the best ones to explore ways to be efficient, but the system has to allow these people to take responsibility. There have been many attempts by organizations to implement worker responsibility programs, only to see them fail. They failed because leadership will not give up control and delegate responsibility.

The Need for Different Learning Environments Every parent wants to see their child excel, but the one-education-system-for-all is preventing

all students from developing their true potential. For simplicity — let’s put natural talent in two groups — intellectual and non-intellectual (mechanical, technical, etc.). These two groups, in the same classroom, are preventing each other from developing their true potential. Academic standards have to be lowered so as not to fail too many non-intellectuals. Non-intellectuals, who do not measure up to academic standards, are labeled failures, and self-fulfilling prophecy does the rest. Students accept the belief that they have low intelligence, because there is no learning opportunity that is in harmony with their natural talent. No one can engage in self-discovery and develop it, if there is no opportunity. Self-discovery opportunity is offered to intellectual talented students ONLY.

A student who has natural talent to be a first class lawyer will never make it as a machinist. He does not have the required mechanical natural talent.

A student who has natural talent to be a first class machinist will never make it as a lawyer. He does not have the required academic natural talent.

If parents understood how these two groups, in the same classroom, work against each other, they would rise up and start a revolution to free their children from the one-education-system-for-all learning environment.

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Learning Personality Key to Self-discovery and a Productive Lifestyle

Every individual not only has a social personality that is different from everyone else, each of us also has a learning personality that is different from everyone else. Our learning personality is the combination of natural talent, personal interest, current opportunity, social environment, character, motivation and how the brain processes information.

People, whose learning personality is in harmony with their social environment, are considered highly intelligent. People, whose learning personality is out of harmony with their social environment, are considered to have low intelligence. Everyone wants to be considered intelligent, and will seek social environments that will give them that feeling.

The classroom is a social environment that is built on academics by intellectuals. Intellectual students are socially accepted and rewarded. Non-intellectuals are socially rejected. Having little opportunity to discover or develop their natural talent, they receive the label of “low intelligence.” Self-fulfilling prophecy proves everyone right. Students who don’t fit in want out, their learning personality is not compatible to the intellectual world.

Learning Personality Elements Natural Talent - Our learning personality is built around a strong natural talent,

intellectual, artistic, technical, or dexterous. Everyone has at least one strong talent, with other talents varying in intensity. Some fortunate people may have more than one. A person with strong intellectual talent usually has weak technical talent. A person with a strong technical talent usually has a weak intellectual talent. Our strong natural talent is the base from which we can build and become a super achiever. The problem is, recognizing what that talent is. Most non-intellectuals do not discover their natural talent until they stumble unto opportunity by accident and many never find it. Society offers help for intellectuals only.

How the Brain Processes Information - Debates are like demonstrations on how different people process information. All participants are debating the same topic, but have different viewpoints and conclusions. This is because each person’s brain processes information differently. In the classroom, instructors are programming their students with prepackaged information and concepts. Then they are given a test to be sure they all are thinking alike. This is not natural and only creates a source of rebellion. In contrast, project based education builds on conflicting points of view, which is a natural process.

Personal Interest - Teenagers are searching for what turns them on. For some, this is next to impossible because relatives, friends and society are pressuring them to accept what they think their interest should be. A teenager, not knowing what motivates him and under pressure to accept others’ opinions, rebels. In this conflict, it is next to impossible to learn what one’s natural talent and interest are.

Parents in particular, have an image of the ideal for their teenager and many teens have interest that is contrary. A mild manner teen will bow to parents’ wishes, pursue a career that is out of harmony with their learning personality. The results, productivity will be well below capabilities. A strong willed teen will take control, reject parental advice, strike out on their own, and do what they feel is right. If they discover their learning personality, they will build a

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career that goes beyond their wildest dreams. Parents who recognize their teens natural learning personality and work with them to develop it, usually help their child become very successful at an early age. This includes allowing their teen to drop out of school, if needed, and support their interest and ambition with opportunity.

Current Opportunity - Opportunity is the only way anyone can discover their natural talent and personal interest. Project base education increases opportunity for self-discovery.

Opportunity is a powerful motivating tool. Motivated people will find ways to acquire knowledge without dependency on instructors. For example: Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers’, and Henry Ford were people who invented products that changed the way we live. They were also in conflict with the education system, but had the support of their parents. Their parents created the opportunity for them to learn on their own. As a result, these inventors developed a burning desire to learn, and it was not on academic subjects.

Society creates opportunity for the intellectual learning personality. They are coached all the way through school to their first job. Their talent, interest, and ability are in harmony with the system. There is little or no coaching for artistic, technical and dexterous talents. Their talent is out of harmony with the system.

Social Environment - People with an intellectual learning personality are viewed as high on the social ladder. Dexterity learning personalities are low on the social ladder, therefore, their needs are ignored. High school students are taught, “blue-collar skills are

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something to avoid at all cost, they are beneath acceptable standards.” The teaching of social prejudice prevents students from discovering themselves.

Everyone could find a productive life style if they could find a learning process with opportunity that matches their learning personality. This is extremely difficult for non-intellectuals because our society says, “everyone must first learn academics before they are allowed to seek other skills.” With this policy, non-intellectuals cannot keep up with natural talented intellectuals, are labeled failures by the system, thereby killing their desire to learn. For many, self-fulfilling prophecy kills the last bit of ambition. It is extremely difficult to motivate people whose learning personality is out of harmony with society’s preconceived standard. On the other hand, the few who are self-motivated will ignore opinions and find ways to acquire skills to achieve their ambition.

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Education First or Opportunity First? The standard procedure is to train students before opportunity is offered. The theory is,

“students that do well in the classroom will do well in the real world.” The problem is, most students don’t know why selected information is important. If they don’t know its importance, is any of it going to stick? There is no motivating force behind it, except to please parents and/or teachers. This policy works for some, not all. It is also assumed that people under the age of twenty don’t need goals, they need classroom instruction, because society said so. This is fine for people who go to college, but what about those that don’t?

What if opportunity was offered first? What if learning opportunity is similar to apprentice programs? With apprentice programs, the student has selected his career and has a mental image of what he is to achieve. Knowing why, is the power that turns information into knowledge. Apprentice programs are trial and error learning, man’s natural learning method. This is a source of motivation, which creates a strong desire to learn.

Education first followed by opportunity seems to work well for intellectuals. Opportunity first seems to work well for non-intellectuals. In either case, people that are motivated can learn any subject when it is related to their personal interest.

A One System for All is NOT Feasible Society creates opportunity for the intellectual learning personality. They are coached

all the way through school to their first job. Their natural talent, interest, and ability are in harmony with the system. For non-intellectuals, there is little or no coaching, their natural talents are out of harmony with the system.

Intellectual learning personalities are viewed as high on the social ladder. Dexterity learning personalities are low on the social ladder, therefore, their needs are ignored. High school students are taught, “blue-collar skills are something to avoid at all cost, they are beneath acceptable standards.” The teaching of social prejudice prevents non-intellectual students from discovering their capabilities.

The formal education system wants to believe that people who succeed in life played by the formal education rules. To reinforce this belief, they put up barriers that many non-intellectuals cannot overcome, mainly academic requirements. For example, in some high schools, in order to take shop courses students must have a “C” average or better. Students who could benefit, who could discover their natural talent, are not allowed to take shop courses. Education’s policies prove educators right, students who do not comply with the rules become failures in life.

It is easy to understand why educators take this view. The formal education gave them a vision, helped them discover their natural talent, and helped them develop it. They are intellectuals and their natural talent is in harmony with the system. Where does this leave the dexterous talented student who is not allowed to take shop courses?

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Projects use the Learning Tools When faced with a challenge, man has the ability to learn without instructors. This is

how Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, the Wright Brothers and thousands of others highly successful people educated themselves. They used the art of self-education and self-challenges. Self-educated people are not molded by classrooms environments; some, like Abraham Lincoln, never went to school, while others, like the Wright Brothers, almost finished high school. How did they learn? With projects that motivated them. These projects were based on the desire to learn more about the world we live in. Nature controls our world and to learn about it, nature is the instructor that forces us to use its learning tool, which is, trial and error. The challenge is to harness or understand this force for the benefit of man.

Projects: are the exploration tools for an adventure with nature. start with a dream or vision of experiences that are beyond our reach at the present

time. In short — an ADVENTURE. are learning tools that motivates by curiosity. are man’s natural way to learn. motivate us to learn more about the world we live in. inspire a love-to-learn. build positive self-esteem. help us discover our true capabilities. develop self-discipline. teach persistence and the art of bouncing back from failure. lead us to a career that is in harmony with our natural talent. are fun!

There are self-motivated and team motivated projects. Both produce powerful learning environments.

With team motivated projects there is a support group who make it easier for us to hang in there when something goes wrong. Teams learn more when they share knowledge and there is an element of failure. If they only follow orders and there is no element of failure, they learn nothing.

Self-motivated projects are training sessions. Each small project leads to a larger one, which is turn leads to yet another larger one. Confidence and abilities grow with each completed project. No super achiever has ever achieved his goal without first succeeding at small, seemly insignificant projects.

With self-motivated projects, there is no obligation to anyone except ourselves. This is what makes it difficult; no one cares. If no one cares, why should we continue? Some projects bring opposition. We are told it is a stupid idea. If others think it is stupid, why should we continue? Most projects have no outside support. If people don’t support us, why should we continue? We continue because this is the only way to achieve our dream. In the beginning, we have to go it alone. No one is interested in our ideas until we succeed. Then everyone wants to be a part of it.

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As we develop the habit of finishing what we start, unknowingly, we rise above the crowd of quitters. Project finishers are in demand, and this demand increases as our abilities expand. This ability is recognized by people who need assistance in reaching their goal. When they discover someone who can get things done, they latch onto them and offer opportunity, qualified or not.

When sudden opportunity is offered, what do we do? Our first reaction is caused by barriers of risk, fear and failure. We ask ourselves various questions, “Do I really want to become involved?” “Not being prepared is risky. Am I willing to look like a fool?” “What will my reputation be if I fail?” “What will my reputation be if I don’t try?”

People who avoid risky adventures are in the habit of watching things happen. People who accept the challenge make things happen.

There is a catch to learning with projects, one must learn to finish what they start. No one learns anything with unfinished projects or try and quit projects. The learning process is in trying and failing, learning from mistakes, bouncing back, and trying again until success comes. Thomas Edison took on the ridiculous project of finding a way to burn a steel wire white-hot without burning up. Everyone knows everything always burns up — what a stupid idea. He tried and failed a thousand times. But his persistence paid off — the common light bulb is the result.

A person who can’t read and write develops negative self-esteem.

A person who can read and write, but is told they are a failure in every class they attend, also develop negative self-esteem.

People with negative self-esteem accept and believe the negative labels placed on them by others, especially authority, and simply gives up.

No one wants to associate with people with negative self-esteem, even

classmates. No employer will hire people with negative self-esteem no matter how many education certificates they have. These people are turned off to the learning process.

Low performing students could develop positive self-esteem in a different learning environment, one where academics was a byproduct. There is more to education than academics.

Employment is available for non-intellectuals with positive self-esteem.

Self-esteem

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The Learning Tools Tools for Sharing Knowledge Team Education - A team member training another team member is the most powerful

education system in the world. The team has a common goal and all give input to reach that goal. Motivated team members set the example that others want to follow. Team members learn to be responsible for each other. The attitude “this is our task” replaces the destructive attitude “that is your problem, not mine.” Peer influence is a highly motivating force.

Learning by Teaching - Students teaching students expands knowledge of all while creating a desire to learn. The teacher and the student both develop a better understanding of the concept.

Conflict and Debate - Conflict and debate are real world education systems. Everyone learns limits and possibilities, becomes familiar with the tasks. People left out of debate do not have opportunity to learn different points of view. In empowered work groups, team members must contribute to be accepted in the group. Group acceptance is a very powerful motivating force.

Bragging, Socializing, Peer Influence - People who have responsibility like to brag how they prevented or solved problems. Team members’ experiences and their lessons are easily remembered. A relaxed environment inspires the desire to ask questions and tailors training to current needs. Bragging builds positive peer pressure, high self-esteem and pride.

Tools for Collecting Knowledge Research and Analyzing - Knowing how to find information and analyze it for quality is

a developed skill. There is a lot of garbage out there mixed with a few gems of quality information. Knowing how to identify the gems and adapt them to your project is the secret to being viewed as a genius.

Self-education - With today’s fast-changing technology, self-education skills can be more valuable to an employer than formal education. New concepts must always be learned and there is no time to go back to the classroom for knowledge. Self-educated people learn to take responsibility for their own education. Time or money is not a hindrance.

Trial and Error, Learning by Doing - People learn when they try and fail. If people do not have opportunity to try, they will never fail. If they never fail, they will never learn. It takes many experiments to find the correct answer. People trying and failing is different from taking orders and failing.

Intuitive Instincts - Innovation, inventions, or winning strategies are produced by mixing experience with instinctive knowledge. Opportunity is often found in our gut feelings. Instinctive knowledge only works for people who are motivated, either to find a better way if positively motivated or to find ways to do less if negatively motivated.

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Self-Education It is possible for man to educate himself without help or support from others. In fact,

when we learn the art of self-education (learning how to learn versus how to be taught) we will find, if not create, opportunity to find success beyond our wildest dreams. Self-educated people are not dependent on others for knowledge. If they need a specialized skill, they know how to acquire it without dependence on authority. Unknowingly, people are promoted by their ability to learn new skills fast. Bosses may not recognize how people learn, but they do recognize the results. People who know how to educate themselves have choices, they have the ability to advance in any endeavor.

There are many ways to acquire a skill that has value to someone else. Everyone is unique and this uniqueness has value, but only the individual can explore and discover what that uniqueness is. People who do not depend on authority for guidance can start now. People who want someone to show them the way may never get started. Dependency on self to develop skills is a powerful skill in itself. This is the tool of super achievers.

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The Love-to-learn People who love-to-learn do not depend on classrooms for knowledge, they develop a

learning style that is in harmony with their learning personality. That is, they develop learning tools that work for them. Projects are the tools that inspire and motivate a love-to-learn. Projects have a plan of action and a goal, which are based on man’s natural desire to be an achiever. Skills that bring above average wages are the result of learning by doing.

A love-to-learn assumes responsibility, ask questions, seek answers, analyze information, which leads to more questions. Answers are never complete because there are always broader possibilities and/or better ways. Learning by asking questions is a treadmill that has no end. This method trains the mind to keep searching, even when a reasonable answer is found. This is the key to educating oneself without dependency on others, this is the love-to-learn.

Benjamin Franklin went to school for two years between the ages of 8 and 10, then was out. His love-to-learn led to creating challenging projects with familiar objects by asking, “there must be an alternative use?” Then he would seek answers and analyze them. Examples: Lighting has power that can be beneficial to man if harness or moving fire from the fireplace to a stove in the center of the room for greater efficiency. He found answers to these familiar forces of nature by asking questions, then trial and error, then more questions. People who love-to-learn ask questions and seek answers.

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A - Desire to learn is maintained over a lifetime. Education is not based on years spent in classrooms, it is based on a persistent desire to maintain a continuous natural learning environment. The result is above average wages. These are the CEO’s and other achievers who have a vision and know how to get things done. These people are independent thinkers and doers who are NOT dependent on others for knowledge or opportunity. They do not wait for opportunity to come their way, they go after it.

B - Desire to learn is maintained until a professional skill is mastered that meets personal desires, then it dies. This person makes average wages.

These two groups are dependent on others for opportunity. They can rise no higher than the image they have of themselves, which is based on other’s opinions. Associates tell them their limits, which they believe and accept. They do not make efficient use of natural learning tools because they are busy protecting their comfort zone and the status quo.

C - Desire to learn dies before a professional skill is mastered. This person makes below average wages.

The difference between group “A” and “B, C” is a vision that motivates. People who have a vision control their destiny and lifestyle. For people without a vision, their destiny and lifestyle is controlled by others.

Today, our education system is preoccupied with standardized tests. The goal is to bring failing students from group “C” up to “B,” which is minimum academic standards. These tests are producing a mindset in all students to accept the status quo. As a result, students that would be in group “A” are dragged down to “B.” They drop any visionary ideas they may have had and focus on testing. The goal should be to give students the tools to move from “B, C” to “A.” This requires a different type of education.

Today’s education is structured around standardized test. The results influence teachers’ bonuses and school funding. When the curriculum is controlled by funding, teaching students to have a vision is no longer feasible, because it cannot be measured.

People who maintain a love-to-learn have freedom to make choices. These same people reject the status quo.

For most people, their love-to-learn ends when they master a professional skill that meets an acceptable lifestyle. These people embrace the status quo.

Project based education and self-education skills are the foundations for developing a love-to-learn.

A love-to-learn is the secret behind my successful adventure projects. A self-motivated project is the motivation behind self-education. These skills create opportunity that most people dream about.

People who love-to-learn have positive self-esteem.

People who love-to-learn engage in self-motivated projects.

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How We Learn

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Turning Information into Knowledge Understanding the ability to turn information into knowledge is extremely complex.

The charts that follow may help you understand why some people comprehend information easy while others find it almost impossible. With a visual picture it becomes clear the connection between learning environments and natural talent. Discovering your natural talent is essential to selecting a professional skill. Employers are looking for employees, whose natural talent is in harmony with the assigned tasks. These charts can help students and employers understand the link between natural talents and needed skills.

Learning Personality Every individual not only has a social personality that is different from everyone else,

each of us has a learning personality that is different from everyone else. Our learning personality is the combination of natural talent, personal interest, current opportunity, social environment, character, motivation and how the brain processes information.

People, whose learning personality is in harmony with their social environment, are considered highly intelligent. People, whose learning personality is out of harmony with their social environment, are considered to have low intelligence. Everyone wants to be considered intelligent and will seek social environments that will give them that feeling. This is why some strive to be a CEO while others accept a self-destructive (criminal) lifestyle.

This document uses the term “Learning Personality.” The Motivation Tool Chest website has extensive articles on the topic.

Information Sources Universal intelligence is the source of all creative thinking, which offers answers to a

persistent desire. Universal intelligence can be compared to the internet that sends out information to desktop computers as requested. A desktop cannot hold the volume of information that is available on the internet; it does not need to, because it’s not possible for a single user to use it. Super achievers have learned how to acquire information from various sources. They have a love-to-learn that motivates them to seek change. For others, their source of information is limited to what is already discovered and recorded. They reject change and accept the way things are, they no longer have a desire to learn.

Using the Chart The formal education is designed by intellectuals for intellectuals. This chart is

designed to help non-intellectuals — people who are in conflict with the formal education system. In addition, it will help employers’ select efficient employees, especially blue-collar skills. The chart compares academic and mechanical learning personalities, because they are opposite. As a rule, people who have strong natural talent in one are weak in the other. The artistic personality represents other talents in this article. Very often artistic talented people have limited ability in academic and mechanical skills, so they would have the same academic education problems that mechanical talented people have.

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The Brain The top part of the chart represents the brain and how it processes information with

natural skills. It recognizes that every individual has talents that work at different efficiencies. Highly efficient people have education and employment opportunities that are in harmony with their natural talent. They may have found the combination by accident or by design. People cannot rely on accidents to find what works for them, they need opportunity to discover their natural talent.

The Processing Bin The processing bin controls the

level of emotions, ambitions, influence, interest and motivation. If these attributes are positive, they can compensate for lack of opportunity and abilities. A goal that motivates, can overcome all barriers. With persistence, all natural talents will grow and become more efficient.

A wishful or disliked goal will not overcome anything. Without positive attitudes in the processing bin, current natural talent and ambition could fade away. Buying a lottery ticket is a symbol of wishful dreams. There is no way to learn how to buy a winning ticket.

Society gives the impression that all learning takes place in formal education environments. Learning is a lifetime process that is controlled by the processing bin.

Universal intelligence feeds the processing bin with positive or negative information. It re-enforces what we believe or want to believe, right or wrong. When we persistently seek to fulfill our dreams, universal intelligence will lead us to opportunity.

The Collection Bin We are constantly exposed to information through lectures, observations and experiences. What is received is processed and sent to the brain. Motivated people are in the habit of searching for information that is in harmony with their natural talent, which is their primary interest. Many people do not know what their natural talent is or they are under the impression they have none. When they apply for a job, they say they can do anything, whatever that means.

Piping diagram shows information flowing into the brain. The color bar length represents strength of natural talent.

The color triangle length represents volume of selected knowledge being offered.

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Social Influences Self-fulfilling Prophecy — Labels by educators, friends and family influence

behavior, positive and negative. The typical classroom is a competitive environment where there are achievers and failures. Self-fulfilling prophecy propels the achievers upward and the failures downward. People reinforce labels placed on them; fulfill what is expected of them.

Interest and Motivation — We all want to learn more about topics that are of interest to us. In the classroom, topics may or may not be of interest to the students. Some people can comprehend dull information; others can only comprehend topics of interest.

In the classroom, a student is labeled as having low reading and comprehension skills, because his abilities are measured on topics that have little or no interest to him. At home, he is writing computer games, a skill that requires a great deal of reading and comprehension. In addition, he is using creative and visionary skills. If reading skills were measured on computer programming, (personal interest) he would have a very high rating. If formal education was customized to the students’ interest, then, many students would be reclassified as having high intelligence.

Sources of Knowledge Opportunity to acquire knowledge comes from many sources. When we discover the

source that works best for us, we can acquire skills beyond our wildest dreams.

Nature is a teacher, it has laws that must be obeyed, it will not tolerate cheating or shortcuts. It teaches self-discipline, the efficiency of honesty, respect for others, including the forces of nature. Experiential learning is man’s natural learning environment that challenges our limits while producing a feeling of achievement.

The sea is an excellent example where the forces of nature must be respected in order to succeed. If they are not, the person or ship goes to the bottom. For example, a ship must be designed right, built right and skillfully handled if it is to sail from point “A” to “B.” Quality planning makes the voyage a pleasure, poor planning or shortcuts will risk the

success of the voyage.

Experiential learning is based on discovery and experience. This inspires students to learn more about the world they live in. These students advance at a very rapid pace, because discovery is a highly motivating force. Experiential learning does not label students gifted or learning disability.

At the website, experiential learning is called “Project Based Education.” The theme is on learning how-to-learn versus how-to-be-taught, developing a love-to-learn that last a lifetime. For super achievers, education starts when they leave the formal education system.

Classrooms have achievers and failures. (Winners and losers) Student results are compared with all students in the class and school. Intelligence is measured by the ability to put clear thoughts on paper. It is designed for the academic learning personality, other types

A piping diagram shows how information flows from source to the collection box.

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of intelligence are not considered. Some students are competitive and accept the challenge; others will not try to compete.

If a mechanical learning personality cannot meet academic standards, they are considered to have a learning disability. A counselor may conclude a student has strong mechanical skills, but will not offer compatible learning opportunity.

Team learning The military’s primary training is in teams. The group works as a team and they depend

on team knowledge to get the job done. It accommodates different learning personalities and different speeds of comprehension. Group intelligence increases as the team shares knowledge.

Team learning is associated with the sharing of knowledge through bragging, conflicts and socializing. Teams create a desire-to-learn that contribute to the success of team goals. Peer influence is a powerful motivator.

Self-education Through the power of self-education you can be anything you want to be or do anything

you want to do. A self-education skill does not require money, fixed time or fixed life style. Options are extremely flexible. Rewards are unlimited. This is based on having a goal that motivates and a love-to-learn. This is how you control your destiny.

Self-education is taking on self-motivated projects, learning how to finish them without outside pressure. This is the tool of visionaries and creative thinkers, whose success is based on a love-to-learn.

Social skills and job skills These are the instructions to the brain for processing information. Some are imbedded at

birth, others are acquired as we age and some are revised through social influence and self-fulfilling insight. This leads us to be at the right place at the right time with the right tools and not knowing this is happening until it happens. This may seem unprofessional, but if everyone had all the facts for success, there would be no failures. People, who make more right decisions than wrong are the winners.

Universal intelligence When we set a goal, universal intelligence goes to work, but it only works as hard as our

desire to achieve a goal. Persistence research, trying and failing, strengthens its effectiveness. If we do not have a clearly defined goal that motivates us, universal intelligence is of no help. It does not react to wishful thinking or buying a lottery ticket.

Many people do not believe there is such a thing, but my experiences with accidental opportunity, based on motivating goals and high-risk adventures has demonstrated this power. It has led me, if not forced me, to make right decisions that otherwise would have been a disaster or opportunity never offered.

All information starts with universal intelligence, is discovered by visionaries, creative thinkers and passed on to society as recorded information.

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Learning Opportunity versus Learning Personality The formal education system is

academic based, designed for the academic learning personality. The gray triangle represents academic learning opportunity. The gray bar represents natural talent. This ability is measured and compared to every other student in the class and school. Other skills are offered and considered optional. Because learning opportunity and natural talent are in harmony, this student is labeled most likely to succeed.

This chart represents the mechanical learning personality, attending an academic based education system. There are very few classes available that would challenge the strong mechanical talent, as represented by the green bar. Because of low academic ability, they are not allowed to take mechanical courses, topics they could excel at. This student will be labeled a failure and self-fulfilling prophecy will prove everyone right.

This is a blue-collar social environment where mechanical learning opportunity is offered to the mechanical learning personality. If the above student was in this learning environment, they would discover the natural talent and excel beyond their wildest dreams.

At one time, these schools were very popular. Because they did not offer academic subjects and measure results by them, the federal government would not give them financial support. They had to shut down.

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This academic learning personality is in a mechanical learning environment. They quickly realize this is not for them and leave. There are plenty of learning opportunities that are in harmony with their ability.

This mechanical learning personality is out of the education system, having never discovered their true capabilities. The education system labeled them a failure and they believed it.

There is a shortage of skilled craftsmen in our society and there are people on the street that can fill this need. The education system did not give them opportunity, because they did not meet academic standards. Many blue-collar skills do not need academic ability.

Once a professional skill is mastered and basic needs are met, many people no longer have a desire to learn. Their potential dies and they become depend on the status quo. With today’s fast changing technology, this is a disaster.

Then there are people whose desire-to-learn is turned off before developing a professional skill. Very often, this is the result of self-fulfilling prophecy developed with labels in the classroom

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A love-to-learn is the result of learning how to learn, versus how to be taught and knowing how to educate themselves. Over time, weak natural talents become strong and the strong become even stronger. Just because a person had problems learning math and English as a teenager, does not mean they will have the same problems in their thirties. With exercise, our learning capacity increases.

In blue-collar industries, employers have trouble finding employees with the skills they need. The problem starts with student selection in trade schools and technical colleges. Applicants are given academic test and the results must meet these standards before they are admitted. As a result, accepted students have strong academic skills and mild mechanical skills. The skills employers are looking for never get into the system.

Level of interest equals level of comprehension.

Experiential learning is based on the laws of nature.

Classroom learning is a highly competitive environment.

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Workplace Leadership Leadership style controls the workplace learning environment. Employees’ attitude

towards learning affects workplace efficiency. Today’s fast changing technology is forcing change in the workplace, which requires employees to be in a full time learning mode. Organizations that can adapt new technology will be the leaders. Leadership in these organizations inspires a love-to-learn. They have visionaries who are inventing new ways to develop and adapt employees’ potential.

Command-and-control Leadership With command-and-control, employees leave their brain at home and bring their body to

work. Employees, who no longer have a desire to learn, control the workplace. All connections to expanding knowledge are broken, they accept the status quo. They cannot adapt to changing technology. The only connection to the knowledge base is the classroom.

Command-and-control leadership produces a high level of exploding problems that no one was authorized or willing to deal with while at the elementary level. The front-line, people who are first aware of potential problems, are not allowed to take action. Management is preoccupied with high priority events, usually a once minor problem that has exploded into a major event. Leaders are recognized for managing major problems, not minor ones. Leaders that spend time on elementary problems get low efficiency ratings.

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Worker Responsibility People, that have a love-to-learn, are attracted to organizations that give them

responsibility. All lines to expanding knowledge are connected; the organization is in a continuous learning mode. Change is embraced because it offers opportunity. These organizations are the technology leaders in our society.

Elementary problems are dealt with, by the people affected by them, preventing their growth into a time consuming event. Leadership can stay focused on changing trends, needs and advancing technology.

When leadership is based on worker responsibility, employees have opportunity to learn the skills that accumulate wealth. Employees that know how to accumulate wealth use their skills to increase the wealth of their organization. It is an upward spiral for all. This does not happen in a command-and-control environment.

The Motivation Tool Chest website has detailed topics on workplace leadership.

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Notes on Universal Intelligence Through personal experience, I have developed the belief that all creative thinking

originates through universal intelligence. We connect when searching for answers. It is similar to searching the internet. There’s tons of information, right and wrong, which leaves it up to us to make a decision. Universal intelligence is no different, except the display. The internet is displayed on a screen, universal intelligence is displayed in our thought process. The thought process stimulates our comfort zone to take action or ignore it. It becomes active through the development of personal dreams, goals and the search for creativity. People who have no goals, who have accepted the status quo, have limited connections to universal intelligence.

I have been involved with projects that, logically speaking, could never have happen. My book, “The Liki Tiki Story” describes one of them. I credit the fulfillment of this project to being at the right place at the right time for hundreds of events. I credit the timing to universal intelligence and comfort zone action. The project spans 8 years from first action to successful competition, starting with no money and no experience. There is no way the large volume of doors to opportunity could have happened by chance or through my action alone. Universal intelligence was in the background setting up timing and opportunity. It became my decision to act without having all the facts.

Universal intelligence is the source for all creative ideas. Man does not produce creativity, he searches for ideas and universal intelligence supplies possibilities. Quality of ideas depends on our skill level. Persistence is also a factor. We must understand the basics before we can recognize advanced levels.

Universal intelligence is also an instructor that works in harmony with nature. For success, three basic elements must be fully developed; skills, resources and support. If one or more are not fully developed, there will be failure, which is the training session. Bouncing back from failure is the test for lessons learned. There may be a string of failures until we get it right. When right, success will follow.

Very often our search for success is based on greed or wishful thinking such as buying a winning lottery ticket or playing the stock market. It does not respond to games of chance. It does work on goals of personal achievement.

The question is soon asked, “what role does God have in this?” The answer is, “universal intelligence is one of many elements God manages in the universe.” Man communicates with God through our comfort zone.

Money is not a goal. It is a reward only for personal achievement.

Comfort zone, as a tool for making quality decisions, only works where there is a free

flow of ideas and opinions.

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Goals and Comfort Zones Universal intelligence, intuitive forces, gut feelings, comfort zones are all the same

thing. Call it what you want. Different terms makes it easier to understand this force.

A goal is a plan of action by an individual or a team, to achieve a desired result. In time, the goal becomes our comfort zone. If we are not at our goal, the comfort zone becomes uncomfortable. We may not always know what to do, but when we make decisions to move in the right direction, the uncomfortable feeling will be eased somewhat, comforting the comfort zone. If we make decisions to move in the wrong direction, the comfort zone uneasiness will increase. We do not like being uncomfortable, so we will work towards a comfortable comfort zone.

Intuitive forces know when we are making the right or wrong decision and the comfort zone is our communication link. In addition, man has a natural desire to survive and intuitive forces will communicate instructions through our comfort zone when it senses danger. Intuitive forces supplies information where facts are not available.

When sailing a vessel across an ocean, goals and comfort zones work together. If there were no navigation tools aboard our vessel, we would arrive at our destination by using the comfort zone technique. There are conditions we must consider; winds must be favorable, the boat must be seaworthy, and the crew must have basic skills. In other words, basics must be in place.

Using Comfort Zones as a Decision Making Tool Comfort zone decision making as a tool works’ best where there are lots of opinions and

everyone involved has a voice. There will always be wrong opinions and decisions, but with time and high volume input, more right opinions will be offered than wrong. Time and experience puts comfort zones on the right track, at which time most decisions will be right.

Command-and-control leader can get jobs done efficiently if their comfort zone stays on the right track. The problem is, it is almost impossible for a single leader and his ideas to stay focused very long. To prevent ego from taking control, leaders need reminders to keep them on course. As a rule, command-and-control leaders’ have a strong desire for power and control. Getting the job done becomes almost impossible, because that is not the goal. “Power and control” and “getting the job done” are not compatible. One goal is based on control and the other is based on achievement. They are opposite attitudes, which cannot occupy the same space at the same time. The comfort zone will support what is import to the leader, not both.

We have a strong desire to know that we are making the right decision every step of the way. We want to know where we are and what we need to do to arrive. Comfort zone navigation does not work that way, life’s decisions do not work that way. We will not know until we arrive.

There is a barrier to comfort zone decision making—social pressures. Very often social pressure will force us to make decisions we feel are not right. It is up to us to make the final decision.

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Comfort Zones and Migration If people can navigate by comfort zones, what about migrating birds, animals and fish?

With comfort zone navigation, it makes no difference if it is daylight, night, overcast sky, or time of day. Migrating wildlife move because it is more comfortable to be on the move than to stay in one place and it is more comfortable to travel in the right direction than the wrong. They have an inter desire to be at a different location during a season change. In addition, there is no one to influence their desire or tell them not to go. Moving in a certain direction with the group is more comfortable than going it alone. A group (team) will make more right decisions than wrong, because the group makes right decisions, they will arrive at their desired destination.

During the last 200 years, man has invented efficient navigation tools that allow him to know where he is now, so that he knows that he is making quality decisions. This skill became possible with the invention of the chronometer. Before the chronometer, navigators did not know if they were making quality decision until they arrived.

Now scientific circles are saying migrating wild life have built in navigation charts, navigation tables, star charts, a compass, a sextant, and a clock — they know where they are now and base decisions on it. This is accepted because small circles of influential people feel they need an explanation, right or wrong. Most people do not know the difference and accept their theories. These scientists ignore the fact that man has been navigating for thousands of years without these tools. Their methods may not have been efficient and they did not know where they were at the moment, but they succeeded at traveling from point “A” to “B” and back.

Scientist has many theories to compensate for migration theories that do not work in less than ideal conditions. When the sky is overcast, they say birds then switch their navigation system to magnetic fields. Man has yet to invent a location system by magnetic fields. Scientist navigation theories are extremely complicated and in many cases — Wild!

Migrating birds have been put in cages in a planetarium. An artificial sky is created and it is observed in what direction the birds try to fly. Being in a cage, they try all directions, but they are more persistent at a single direction based on overhead stars. They are trying to steer a course, they are not navigating. Navigation is knowing your current position and adjusting the course for the desire destination. Navigation of wildlife cannot be duplicated, because they do not know if they are making the right decision until they arrive.

In a few years, scientific circles will claim that migrating wild life use a form of GPS navigation and auto pilots. When using a GPS auto pilot, knowing your current position is not important. This is getting closer to the comfort zone navigation theory.

All living things are connected to universal intelligence. Humans are the only ones that can

ask for and receive selected information.

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Polynesian Navigation Based on my experiences with Liki Tiki Too I did extensive research on how the Polynesians migrated across the Pacific Ocean, from Hawaii, 5,000 miles to New Zealand. During 1970, I sailed a 36-foot dugout canoe, with outriggers, 5,000 miles, from Panama to Hawaii. This was before GPS navigation. Celestial navigation was the only way to find the ship’s position.

How did the Polynesians populate the Pacific Ocean 2,000 years ago without charts or navigation interments? By comfort zone navigation.

People can navigate across oceans and arrive at their destination by using their comfort zone. (Gut feelings, intuitive forces, universal intelligence) Where there is a lack of knowledge and the need to know, we base final decisions on intuitive forces. This is how we achieve any goal in life, whether it is sailing across oceans, building a business or any achievement. Success depends on making right decisions where facts are missing.

Comfort zone navigation is how the Polynesians populated the Pacific Ocean. Facts were extremely limited. They did not know if they were making the right decisions until they arrived. This form of navigation is explained in Polynesians folk chants and folk stories. They tell how they were guided by various forms of sea life. This was the best explanation they could give of comfort zone navigation.

My Experience with Comfort Zone Navigation During my first trip on Liki Tiki Too, I was so seasick I lay in the bottom of the boat and wished it would dive straight to the bottom. My second goal was to head south, away from land and shipping lanes. When I get my sea legs, I could then sail the boat properly and navigate. After three days, I was 300 miles south of Panama City, feeling better, and up ahead was an island, Malpelo. I did not know there were any islands out here. As I sailed closer, I noticed it was a mile long rock poking out of the ocean with high cliffs all around and no place to land. Getting too close would mean being bashed against the cliffs by the waves. The odds of sailing 300 miles to an isolated island by accident are tremendous. If my planned course was off three degrees (if I had one) or I missed the island by fifteen miles, I would have never seen it. I felt it was no accident that I sailed to the island, but had no explanation.

Mutiny on the Bounty The comfort zone navigation concept was well documented 200 years ago by Captain William Bligh after the mutiny. Before the mutiny, Captain Bligh micro managed the crew and wanted everyone to know he was the boss. As a result, everything went wrong. The crew finally had enough, mutinied, and cast Captain Bligh and eighteen of his loyal crewmembers adrift in a lifeboat. Without navigation tools, they sailed the open boat 3,600 miles to the Dutch colony, Timor, near Java. This outstanding achievement is only possible with comfort zone navigation.

More information Learning Personality — motivation-tools.com/youth/learning_personality.htm

Comfort Zone Navigation — motivation-tools.com/liki_tiki/navigation.htm

Setting Goals — motivation-tools.com/elements/setting_goals.htm

The Liki Tiki Story—motivation-tools.com/downloads.htm

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Education Systems

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What Is Education? A burning desire to learn is the key to a fulfilling lifestyle. It’s something

school rarely inspires. What is education? Is it knowledge in basic skills, academics, technical disciplines,

citizenship…or is it something else? Our formal education system says only the academic basics are important, emphasizing the collection of knowledge without understanding its value. What about the processing of knowledge—using inspiration, visionary ambitions, creativity, risk, motivation and the ability to bounce back from failure? These skills are associated with understanding the value of knowledge, but many education institutions don’t consider these skills. There is a huge, disconnected gap, which is a problem for high school students in particular.

Thomas Edison and many other super achievers never finished school. They succeeded because they knew how to research information for a selected project and process that knowledge. The classroom environment does not work that way. It focuses on the collection of knowledge with no clear purpose other than high grades. If pleasing the teacher does not motivate, then there is nothing to process, outside of memorizing answers for a test. The typical student is academically challenged while being starved for motivation. Lack of motivation is lack of knowledge-processing skills. The typical college graduate will emerge with a professional skill that can provide for life’s basic needs, but that’s all.

What is education? All the elements in my opening paragraph relate to education, and all should be considered. This would be ideal, but “all” is not possible where performance must be measured. Only what can be measured will be selected, and the measuring tool is the written test. Anyone who does not have the ability to put clear thoughts on paper is labeled a failure. Natural skills, including knowledge processing, do not count. What is exercised grows stronger, and what is ignored stays dormant. The classroom exercises the collection of academics, leaving all other natural skills in the closet.

Tests do not measure intelligence or ability; they do not measure how the mind processes information, how motivating experiences develop persistence, or how the mind sorts out instincts, opinions, evaluations, possibilities and alternatives. Knowledge by itself has no value; it is like a dictionary filled with words. Words alone have no value; they are given meaning by the process of stringing them together. Unfortunately, our education system is becoming a system that memorizes the dictionary. When students have memorized selected knowledge, then they are given a one-day test, based on dictionary knowledge, which will influence their employment opportunities for the rest of their lives. Natural skills are not considered. Is this how America became the world’s economic leader? No! Knowledge only has value when used with a process, and process in an artificial environment is not predictable or measurable.

Achievers in life use inspiration and motivation to overcome barriers. Teaching to the test does not inspire or motivate anyone. Memorizing does not inspire a love of learning; in fact, it does just the opposite. Education’s goal should be to develop a love of learning that stays with students throughout their lives. Education should be a lifetime experience, not limited to youth.

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Educators are switching to tests because there is a crisis in education of their own making, and society wants measurable results. This pressure is passed on to political leaders, who base political decisions on measurable academic testing. These tests are based on acceptance of the educational status quo. Every student must now become an academic intellectual, or be labeled a failure. Natural talent and knowledge-processing skills do not count. More and more students are receiving the “failure” label, all because the system measures selected knowledge on a one-day standardized paper test.

Consider a parent who is having a problem with a word processor. On his own, he can’t solve the problem. He’s been collecting knowledge for years, but his knowledge processor is in hibernation. With any new gadget, someone has to teach him; he can’t figure it out for himself. His 13-year-old son comes to the rescue. The boy has limited knowledge, but he knows how to processes available information. He explores the word processor problem until he finds a solution. He is not unusually smart—this is just a teenager’s natural approach to finding solutions.

All young children have a natural talent for creatively processing information. It’s during the teen years that natural creative processing is replaced with the status quo: memorizing knowledge, without regard to how to process it. In the classroom, memorizing is what counts. Standardized testing reinforces the status quo. It kills creative processing ability. Status quo attitudes will follow children into adult life, where they will have to ask their children for help. Today, the educational system has a new tool on the market: behavior-control drugs. Any student who refuses to accept the status quo is labeled a troublemaker and will be drugged. The glassy-eyed student will then behave in the classroom, and school officials will receive high performance ratings. The student may get passing grades and land a job with a comfortable wage, but that will be the extent of it. His teenage dreams and great ambitions will be gone.

Fact: Self-made millionaires are not “A” students in the classroom. The way they process knowledge conflicts with classroom priorities. The self-made millionaire has a vision. Then he researches specific knowledge, applies intuitive knowledge and processes all the elements, searching for a workable solution. Millionaires are made by finding alternative ways to do common tasks. The secret is vision, research and processing, not pre-stored knowledge alone.

The typical employer wants employees with dictionary knowledge, not visionaries. Businesses want employees who follow orders, are willing to do repetitive tasks, are happy with a limited role, and accept the status quo. Repetitive tasks means efficiency, which is where profits are made. Also, accepting the status quo prevents the exposure of blunders by leaders. Too many blunders and profits disappear. In a status-quo environment, visionaries become bored quickly and soon receive the “troublemaker” label when they offer alternatives or expose blunders. This sometimes leads to dismissal, even though their ideas can increase efficiency and create new sources of profits for the company. In the long haul, visionaries are the ones who make above-average wages, no matter their formal education level. But with behavior-controlling drugs, the education system now has the tools to eliminate this type of person.

As I write this, e-learning is becoming an education model that the present system cannot compete with. It focuses on what motivates, rather than what the system thinks is good for students. It is also sidestepping politicians, textbook industries, testing companies and

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unions. These forces are now fighting back, trying to maintain a system that is in their own interest, instead of the students’. At this time, they are focusing on standardized testing, which seems to be a last-ditch effort to maintain the status quo.

What can be considered a quality education? A quality education is custom designed, addressing the unique abilities of each student, and provides a positive emotional experience. Customized education evaluates natural talent and how a student learns. This is why home-schooled students outperform classroom students. Parents learn what works and what doesn’t, and then focus on what works. With this method, students develop a love of learning, and learning becomes a lifelong process.

Which type of education environment do you think will produce consistent winners?

Sample of Project Based Education Aboard a Tall Ship “A tall ship is a disciplinary learning machine. Learning and applying the maritime

‘rules of the road’ are necessary for safety and comfort. Navigation and piloting are impor-tant for math and chart reading skills. Crew members must consider options, select a desti-nation, plan how to get there efficiently, safely, and then DO IT! Ocean sailing presents real problems that require real solutions, which must be dealt with right away. At sea, the results of the crews’ decisions are experienced NOW! And the reasons for the decision are understood NOW! There is no way to cheat, lie, or take shortcuts. Nature does not allow its laws to be broken. Crew members soon realize that successful decision making skills are based on the laws of nature.”

With the right project, anyone can excel. Project base education is extremely motivating for teenagers who are in conflict

with classroom environments. A project gives them the opportunity to discover and de-velop their natural talent which is a powerful motivating force.

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Learning Efficiency The goals of education are to acquire knowledge, skills or to fulfill personal desires. The

combination of how we learn, what we learn, our learning environment, our natural talent, all controls our learning efficiency. Learning efficiency can be gauged between fast and easy to slow and difficult. In the right learning environment, anyone can learn skills that fulfill their personal interest.

For some, learning ability is highly efficient in the classroom, but they have low efficiency with self-education.

Some people have highly efficient self-education skills, but have low efficiency in the classroom.

Some people learn best with hands-on opportunity, such as apprentice programs. Their learning efficiency is low in the classroom.

A person can be considered highly intelligent in one sector and considered to have low intelligence in another. This is because of their learning efficiency in that sector.

Learning efficiency is related to natural talent, inspiration, interest, motivation, involvement and the love-to-learn or lack of it.

Projects are powerful learning environments, because they are challenging, have clearly defined goals and the end results are inspiring.

Workplace leadership determines whether the learning process continues or comes to a halt. People, who only follow orders, learn nothing. People who make decisions, are learning what works or does not work.

Learning Efficiency Elements to Consider Learning how to be taught versus learning how to learn.

The habit of being dependent on instructors for additional knowledge or the habit of learning without instructors.

Learning is considered a youth process or a lifelong process.

To develop a vision that inspires or acquire a skill to get a job.

What about developing skills that cannot be measured? (Next page)

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Skills & Learning Environments of Achievers

Students, who excel, are in a learning environment that is in harmony with their natural talent.

In the right learning environment, anyone can excel.

Discovering one’s natural talent and developing it, is the key to a productive lifestyle.

When a person discovers their natural talent, they are like a fast moving freight train, there is no stopping them. They will find a way to develop their talent, with or without support from society.

Measurable Skills

Skills that Cannot be Measured

Learning Environments Influence Learning Ability

Academics Technical Acquired knowledge Ability to memorize Athletic skills Follow orders Job skills Productivity

_____________ Today’s educational system considers academics to be the primary skill needed for success. The system does not consider what can not be measured. Yet, what cannot be measured is the secret to success.

_____________

The system does not help non-academic talented youth discover their natural talent. The result? A growing list of at-risk youth.

A love-to-learn Character Natural talent Competitiveness Ability to process knowledge Knowing how to learn Self-esteem, pride Motivation, desires Persistence Vision, goals Ambition Attitudes Leadership Responsibility Research and analytical skills Instinctive ability Perceptive insight Integrity Bounce back from failure Willingness to take risk Creativity Fear control, courage Communication skills Reasoning Decision making Problem solving Time management Applying technology Acquire & evaluate information Ability to get jobs done

Classrooms Apprentice programs Team environments Learning with responsibility Learning by teaching Conflict and debate Bragging, socializing, peers Research and analyzing Self-education Risk environments Trial and error, learn by doing Interactive environments Instinctive environments Nature as an instructor Leadership styles

______________________ A person’s ability to acquire knowledge will increase or decrease, depending on the learning environment they are in.

People, who can educate themselves without instructors, will do poorly in classrooms. People, who do well in classrooms, will do poorly in a self-educated environment.

People, who are given responsibility will learn faster than those who only follow orders.

The environment controls the ability and desire to learn.

Measurable Skills

Skills that Cannot be Measured

Learning Environments Influence Learning Ability

Academics Technical Acquired knowledge Ability to memorize Athletic skills Follow orders Job skills Productivity

_____________ Today’s educational system considers academics to be the primary skill needed for success. The system does not consider what can not be measured. Yet, what cannot be measured is the secret to success.

_____________

The system does not help non-academic talented youth discover their natural talent. The result? A growing list of at-risk youth.

A love-to-learn Character Natural talent Competitiveness Ability to process knowledge Knowing how to learn Self-esteem, pride Motivation, desires Persistence Vision, goals Ambition Attitudes Leadership Responsibility Research and analytical skills Instinctive ability Perceptive insight Integrity Bounce back from failure Willingness to take risk Creativity Fear control, courage Communication skills Reasoning Decision making Problem solving Time management Applying technology Acquire & evaluate information Ability to get jobs done

Classrooms Apprentice programs Team environments Learning with responsibility Learning by teaching Conflict and debate Bragging, socializing, peers Research and analyzing Self-education Risk environments Trial and error, learn by doing Interactive environments Instinctive environments Nature as an instructor Leadership styles

______________________ A person’s ability to acquire knowledge will increase or decrease, depending on the learning environment they are in.

People, who can educate themselves without instructors, will do poorly in classrooms. People, who do well in classrooms, will do poorly in a self-educated environment.

People, who are given responsibility will learn faster than those who only follow orders.

The environment controls the ability and desire to learn.

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1. People with a college education, coupled with a goal and vision are the primary

success leaders in our society today. Doctors, lawyers, scientist, CEOs. For many public service professions, the law requires proficiency in higher education to meet qualifications.

2. People who have a goal and vision, but lack formal education are leaders in the blue-collar world. They develop proficiency in professions where experience determines qualifications.

3. To achieve a college degree, one must have a goal. In this group, people are mostly interested in acquiring a skill that is attractive to an employer and pays well. They have no ambitions to conquer the world.

4. At an early age, these people became discouraged and gave up.

The person who maintains a drive to be the person of their dreams is an achiever.

The person who succeeds at fulfilling their dream is a super achiever.

The objective is to develop skills that lets us move to a higher level, from line 4 to line2, and from line 3 to line1. This is achieved by discovery of natural talent and opportunity to develop it. Motivation and love-to-learn does the rest no matter the formal education level.

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Products of Our Education System Recognized achiever is the goal of every parent for his or her child. This is the hyped

product of our education system. The system works for people with talent and the ability to reach this lofty goal.

Most people in this category had a vision and a role model of the person they wanted to be at an early age. With a clear focus, they were able to take advantage of opportunities the edu-cation system offered.

Most students come away from the education system with ba-sic job skills. They have no strong interest and they do not know what their true capabili-ties are. This is because high schools' primary curriculum is based on academics -- it is not designed to inspire specialized interest. As a result, most stu-dents are academically stuffed while being motivationally starved. With no direction, they seek jobs wherever they can find one.

High school rejects are in two classes, those who become a burden on society and those who become productive citi-zens. Achievers found alterna-tive education opportunity.

High school rejects could live productive lives if they had learning opportunity that was in harmony with their natural talent. Society is searching for ways to make these people adapt to the current system. It

will never happen! The best hope for rejects is to offer education opportunity that was success-ful for other rejects who found success. They first had to discover what their true capabilities were and then found ways to develop it. For many, discovering their capabilities was by acci-dent, which is the current system. Society cannot rely on accidents for the rescue of rejects, there must be alternatives. A program like this could also inspire and motivate the typical high school student into specialized interest, thereby, lifting them into the recognized achiever class.

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Theme High Schools The typical high school student has no direction and does not know what their true

capabilities are. This is because high schools do not promote career paths or inspire clearly defined direction, especially for vocational talented students. This leaves students vulnerable to outside influences that lead to rebellion, drugs and crime, to name a few. Much of this could be avoided with active career training in our high schools.

Theme high schools would increase the influence the education system has with their students, especially those that are in conflict with the system. This would eliminate career discrimination that now takes place in our schools (vocational versus college). The goal of education would be to help students discover their natural talent and inspire a vision of the person they want to be. This is highly motivating.

The first year of high school is not too early to start career planning. For many, a visible goal can inspire motivation. Motivated students are learning machines. This would encourage many would-be dropouts to stay in the system and develop a skill. If they did drop out, they would have some direction and knowledge of a career to pursue in a different learning environment. This experience would be weighed against negative influences in their lives.

Education Based of SAT Testing Education by memorization.

Turns off the desire to learn.

Turned off to learning environments.

Learns how to be taught.

Discovery of natural talent and interest is limited to intellectuals only.

Intelligence is based on academics ONLY.

True potential is not discovered.

Education Based of SAT Testing Education by memorization.

Turns off the desire to learn.

Turned off to learning environments.

Learns how to be taught.

Discovery of natural talent and interest is limited to intellectuals only.

Intelligence is based on academics ONLY.

True potential is not discovered.

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Reality of High School

Dropouts

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High School Dropouts in the Real World When students leave the formal education system, they fall into one of three groups;

graduates who find employment, dropouts who find employment, and dropouts who become a burden on society.

1. Professionals who credit the education system. - The education system inspired a vision, help them discover their natural talent, gave them opportunity to develop it and then helped them find their first job. Professions usually related to the white-collar world.

2. Professionals who rejected the education system. - These people learned how to educated themselves. Because they did not conform to education’s policy, they were labeled failures. They were rebellious and their rebellion helped them find a vision that motivated them. They discovered their natural talent and found a way to develop it. Professions usually related to the blue-collar world. With no help from society, they found employment and advanced to highly respected positions.

3. Unemployable who rejected the education system. - These people were in conflict with classroom environments and they NEVER found a vision or their natural talent. They do not know how to overcome negative classroom labels and are not aware of self-education skills that worked for other high school dropouts. They were confronted with barriers and they believed the negative labels placed on them. As a result, they become a burden on society. Society uses these people as examples of what happens when students do not play by the formal education rules.

Society pressures group three to reenter group one. Group three’s best chance for developing productive skills is to follow group two’s example. This is the concept behind The Self-discovery School.

Whiz Kids go to Jail High schools do not know how to

manage non-intellectual whiz kids who think outside of the box. The system wants all teenagers to get inside the box and adapt to the system, in other words, accept the status quo. Those that refuse are labeled failures.

For example, a computer hacker breaks into a database, copies credit card numbers and posts them on the internet. He is caught and goes to jail.

This highly intelligent teenager is in jail because he did not adapt to formal education rules and was not given the opportunity to develop his natural talent. In fact, the education system did just the opposite, it built barriers to the development of his natural talent because his efforts did not meet academic standards. Is it necessary that academics always have priority?

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Teaching Young Students to be Failures The typical high school teaches 30% of its students to be failures. This is because the

curriculum only recognizes academic skills and students intelligence is measured by this standard. Nonacademic skills and associated intelligence are ignored. A person who has the ability to be a first class welder is labeled a failure. He may never become a welder because self-fulfilling prophecy, based on academics, will determine his fate.

When the academic curriculum is a challenge to the natural talented intellectual, non-intellectuals will be labeled failures. They don’t have the academic skills that intellectuals do.

When the academic curriculum allows non-intellectuals to receive passing grades, then intellectuals will not have opportunity to discover their full potential. These students will become unrecognized failures, meaning, their skills will be well below their capabilities.

There will always be failures when young people are sorted by age and expected to perform in unison in passive learning environments. Human nature does not work this way. The system must change to be in harmony with human nature. In the right learning environment, anyone can excel and no one needs to be labeled a failure.

Before the 1900s, most people lived on a farm and schooling was in a one-room schoolhouse. In this environment, students were sorted by skill level, not by age. This allowed students to advance at a natural pace without negative stigmas. The system recognizes that everyone has a unique talent and has different learning speeds. Developing a love-to-learn was the goal and its effectiveness was based on the ability to share knowledge. Usually, older students shared their knowledge or interest with younger students. Younger students were inspired by older students and they became role models. This interaction developed a respect for fellow students, inspiring all to excel. The one room schoolhouse did not teach students to be failures.

The term “failure” was adapted by city schools that use multipliable classrooms and sorted students by age. Performance is based on averages with winners and losers in every class. Every student, in each age group, is expected to march in lock step to a single drummer, the instructor. Role models, in the classroom, have become a thing of the past, the sharing of knowledge, by students, is no longer an education tool.

Today’s education has a production line mentality with inspectors to eject those that do not conform to the system. To make production line education work, the curriculum is limited to academics, because they can be taught in the classroom and results can be measured. This may seem efficient, but the price to society of failing students is becoming too high to be acceptable, problems are spiraling out of control. To help maintain control, politicians are passing laws to keep the system in place.

The system needs to recognize natural talent, plus skills that cannot be measured, and adapt learning environments to individual needs. Customizing education to students’ personal interest and learning habits is why home schooling programs are so successful. Also, home schoolers do not receive the failure label because their progress is NOT compared to other

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students; the goal is to develop a love-to-learn. With a love-to-learn, additional skills can be mastered as needed.

The education system uses reward and punishment as a control tool. Intellectuals are rated most likely to succeed, then they are offered scholarships that lead to quality jobs. Non intellectuals are put on the punishment list. They are denied participation in special projects and other non-academic subjects including shop courses, subjects they could excel at. This policy guarantees that the systems predictions will be right, “anyone who does not receive passing grades in academics will become failures in life.” Self-fulfilling prophecy becomes the controlling factor.

Standardized testing is widening the gap between passing and failing students. The pressure to comply is forcing marginal students on one side or the other. There is a breaking point and many simply give up. Increase pressure will force students to reach that breaking point at an earlier age. The price will be more crime on the streets, not less. On the other hand, the school’s performance rating increases when failing students walk away from the system.

Society needs to abandon the belief that academics is the only skill needed for a successful and productive life. Human nature is not that simple.

Motivational and inspiration skills, that can’t be measured, are not taught in the classroom. The student must discover and adapt them on their own.

Our youth are being academically stuffed while being motivationally starved.

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The Failure Label Teenagers, who are in conflict with classroom environments, are repeatedly told they

are FAILURES. This message is broadcast by the teacher’s pressure to get students to comply. The message is then picked up by fellow students, whose words are derogatory; dummy, stupid, idiot, which then labels them as the classroom outcast. Their reaction is predictable.

1. The process starts with negative self-esteem. 2. They become intimidated in the presence of intellectuals. 3. Rebellion sets in. 4. Being a troublemaker gets recognition. 5. Drugs soften the misfit pressure. 6. Criminal behavior becomes their occupation.

Rebellion starts with inward conflicts of having to fight outward social pressure to be something they are not.

1. The subconscious is trying to discover itself. 2. Wanting to be accepted, they know they don’t fit. 3. Wanting to be somebody, teenagers have dreams of doing great things until their

social environment kills them.

Teenagers need opportunity to develop non academic skills such as apprentice programs. Starting at the age of 14, they should have opportunity to experience welding shop tools, machine shop tools, carpentry tools, etc. Experience with blue-collar skills can make them aware of their unique talent while inspiring a motivating vision.

For super achievers, their vision started during their early teens or before. This is the time to plant visions, not wait until they are twenty.

Drugging Students to Accept the Status Quo Society is now drugging our youth with behavior control pills, destroying creativity.

Drugs program youth’s mind to be dependent on authority and accept the status quo. This new generation will earn “A’s” in the classroom and maybe make a comfortable living, but they will have lost the ability to be an innovator. Behavior control drugs are destroying the next generation of entrepreneurs.

During the teen years, it is difficult to tell the difference between achievers like Thomas Edison or Henry Ford and non-achievers. Both types are bored in the classroom and refuse to participate in academic studies. Today’s society believes, wrongly, that only college educated people find success. Parents want their children to succeed and behavior control drugs cause children to act like parents and the education system wants them to.

There is a fine line between legal drugs to control behavior and illegal drugs that make people feel good. The users of illegal drugs are content to live in a world of artificial highs. Today’s society is teaching children to live in an artificial world with legal drugs. Drugs may help them achieve passing grades in school and land their first job, but this may be the end of benefits and the beginning of destruction. In the real world, taking pills to solve problems does not solve anything; it delays them until they explode with unpredictable consequences.

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All teenagers want to learn, discover their natural talent and develop it. The formal education system provides this opportunity for intellectuals, but not for non-intellectuals. The system requires all students to reach academic standards before they are allowed nonacademic opportunity. For example, this is like requiring a law student to be a welder before he can study law. He may have natural talent to be a lawyer, but he will never be an efficient welder. If welding skills are pre-requirements to becoming a lawyer, then he will never be a lawyer and society will have lost unique talent.

There will always be highly intelligent teenagers whose natural talent is out of harmony with the system. Because there is no opportunity for alternative education, many turn to crime and society loses unique talent. Academics first for everyone, is not feasible.

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Natural Talent and Opportunity Thomas Edison’s short stay in the classroom was a disaster. His mother pulled him out

and gave him a workshop so he could develop his natural talent at his own pace, she was not concerned about academics. You know the rest of the story. What if he lived in today’s subsidized high-rise housing unit? Not having an opportunity to discover or develop his natural talent, he would become a frustrated young man. Internal conflicting struggles would lead him to crime and drugs. His next step could led him to a life in prison.

How many Thomas Edisons’ are in jail because they were in conflict with classroom environments and lacked the opportunity to develop their natural talent?

People are in prison today because society says every teenager must be an intellectual before they can develop non intellectual talent. They are labeled failures in the classroom and self-fulfilling prophecy proves everyone right.

The education system believes that individual productivity is directly related to classroom achievement and standardized test scores. This may be true for naturally talented intellectuals. What about non-intellectuals? Academics-first policy is pressuring them to give up and walk away from the system, they can’t compete with natural talented intellectuals.

Non intellectual students have undiscovered and undeveloped talents. Why not give them opportunity to discover and develop them, like society does for intellectuals? Education opportunity built around projects, versus academics, can achieve this goal. Discovering one’s natural talent is highly motivating. Motivation inspires a desire to learn. Self-discovery is like a fast moving freight train, there is no stopping it. One may find a way to develop that talent with or without the help of society.

A high percent of today’s professional blue-collar workers walked away from the education system, could not qualify for apprentice programs or technical schools, started their career as a helper and advanced until some make $70,000 per year. Blue-collar employers are not interested in an applicants’ education level, they want work ethic skills, the ability to get the job done, and positive self-esteem. With healthy self-esteem, employers can teach necessary skills, even at the helper level. A person with negative self-esteem has no value to anyone, even with education achievement certificates. Standardized test builds positive self-esteem in the winners and negative self-esteem in the losers and does nothing for the development of self-discovery or natural talent.

Thomas Edison was lucky, his mother quickly recognized what the academics-first policy was doing when she removed him from the classroom and gave him a workshop. Many of today’s teenagers are not so lucky — they are removed from the classroom and put in jail.

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The Mindset of Street Gangs What do astronauts and street gang members have in common?

Both groups are highly motivated. Both had role models, at an early age, of the person they wanted to be. Both attached a dream to their role model. The astronauts dreams lead them into the world of aviation. The street gang members’ dreams lead them to imprisonment.

Why do some people’s ambitions lead to self-destruction when the same skills can be used to develop a motivating career and productive lifestyle?

It is important to note here that all of us follow our dreams. Some of us have weak dreams that offer limited motivation, others have powerful dreams that are highly motivating. For most of us, our dreams are positive; for others, their dreams are self-destructive. Street gangs have very powerful, self-destructive ambitions, usually related to criminal activity. Our mind is a powerhouse that searches for ways to fulfill our dreams, whether they are right or wrong.

The mindset of street gang members: Gang members are highly intelligent and

ambitious. They want to learn and be recognized as an achiever. They reject the classroom method of education; therefore, they are straight “F” students.

Street gangs are teams that share knowledge, which is a powerful form of education. In this case, they are learning how to be efficient criminals. Our education system does not recognize teams as an education tool.

The education system drives young people into gang environments by defining a group as failures and repeatedly reminding them, in every classroom, that they are failures. This produces low self-esteem. Street gangs are organized in a way that produces high self-esteem. This makes them attractive to classroom rejects. We all like to associate with people with high self-esteem, including young teens who do not consider the outcome.

Their role models are people serving time in prison. A person in prison is an achiever, from their perspective. They actively seek criminal opportunity. They want to be caught, see their picture on TV and in the newspapers, then they are recognized as an achiever by their peers. This is a positive status symbol in the street gang world. They care less what society thinks of them.

The fore-stated elements are that of a super achiever. The problem is, these people embraced criminals as their role model and attached a dream to them. This led to self-destruction. Because negative influences got to these people first, our society is putting highly motivated, ambitious people in prison. If these people were inspired with positive goals, at an early age, they would be helping to build a better world. We are talking about millions of intelligent minds wasting away in prison, because of self-destructive dreams, people who could

Teenagers are learning machines. Street gangs are learning organizations with a theme. The theme unites and inspires the team. The team shares knowledge, which makes them efficient in criminal activity. This type of learning organization can be applied to productive skills.

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be living highly productive lives.

Education’s policy of using standardized tests, for measuring education efficiency, is increasing the number of students who give up and join the self-destructive group. The 30% student dropout rate is the result of a “one system for all” academic policy. The academic based education system will never meet their needs no matter how much money is spent, there needs to be alternate education opportunities. Instead of pressuring students to adapt to the system, the system needs to adapt to the students by recognizing individual learning personalities and offer learning opportunity that is in harmony with their learning personality.

Every individual not only has a social personality that is different from everyone else, we also have a learning personality that is different from everyone else. Our learning personality is the combination of natural talent, personal interest, current opportunity, social environment, character, motivation and how the brain processes information. Anyone can develop a productive skill if their learning opportunity is in harmony with their learning personality.

The education system requires every student to be an intellectual. If they don’t measure up to intellectual standards, they are labeled failures and considered dummies. Through self-fulfilling prophecy, the labels prove to be correct. Because the system conflicts with learning personalities, 30% of our teenagers drop out of high school. If our society wants to solve the street gang problem and the dropout problem, we have to recognize learning personalities and expose young people to positive role models in a different type of learning environment. Project based education can achieve this goal through self-discovery. (Page 24)

Some Notes Just because students get straight “Fs” in the classroom does not mean they lack

intelligence, motivation or ambition.

Labeling a student a failure builds low self-esteem. Motivated people will not accept this; they will find an environment that will give them high self-esteem. For many, opportunity is found in street gangs. These people have a love-to-learn, but not in classroom environments.

Some teenagers accept the label that they are dumb, stupid and a failure. Self-fulfilling prophecy proves educators right, “people who do not master academics will be losers.”

For many failing students, the classroom is their enemy and/or prison from which they feel there is no escape. Through self-fulfilling prophecy, they become misfits who believe they are NOT wanted at home, in the classroom or by fellow students. To them, there is not much difference between a prison with bars and a classroom without bars, either place is a reminder of not being wanted. With negative feelings like this, there is no motivation to learn.

All of us admire highly motivated people with positive self-esteem. If young students can’t find it in the classroom, they need to be exposed to other forms of education where they have that opportunity.

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Space Camp In Huntsville, Alabama, there

is a Space Camp for the purpose of inspiring young people to adopt a role model from the space program and attach a dream to that role model. This is achieved by having students experience training in simulators, similar to the one’s astronauts use. The cost is about $200 per day. They have scholarships for young people who are achievers in the classroom. Herein lies the problem for exposing street gang remembers to positive role models.

1. Exposure requires money. Middle class and above can afford to expose their children to positive role models. Lower class cannot afford this type of program, yet they are the one’s who need it and can benefit the most.

2. Opportunity goes to those who are achievers in the academic world. Straight “F” students are never considered, yet, hands-on opportunity may be the spark that motivates a failing student to be an achiever.

3. The present system cannot give failing students opportunity, because that would be rewarding failure. Yet, the failure label is based on academic talent, which is measured, not on one’s learning personality, which is not measured.

4. The reason academic achievers are first to be offered hands-on learning opportunity is, because of limited resources. This difficult problem has to be addressed.

Space Camp students, a senior citizen class. Full size Shuttle in background with satellite.

Bob Webb as Commander of Shuttle simulator.

Joan Webb at Mission Control simulator.

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Workplace Leadership

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Priorities

There are three priorities, CHEAP, QUICK and GOOD. You can have any two.

A good job quick -- won't be cheap.

A quick job cheap -- won't be good.

A good job cheap -- won't be quick.

Note: A single priority increases efficiency. At the other end, if all three elements have equal priority the results are reversed, low quality, high cost, and difficult to finish. This is the result of rotating priorities, which means, no one knows what the goal is. Priority of the moment depends on current mood.

What is Your Leadership Style?

High Efficiency A feeling of job ownership and pride.

Do it.

Do it then tell me what you did.

Tell me what you are going to do and do it.

Tell me what you want to do and wait for a decision.

Don't do anything without my approval.

Don't do anything until I tell you.

Low Efficiency Assumes no responsibility.

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Workplace Leadership Who has the efficiency advantage?

Below are two warriors who will complete the job, but at what efficiency level? Each works under a different leadership style that is based on organization priority, GET-THE-JOB-DONE (worker responsibility) or CONTROL? These priorities produce different results, sometimes opposite, and cannot be considered equal.

An organization’s priority is based on workplace policies — this determines its leadership style.

Efficiency under command-and-control leadership!… The front line is given limited authority to solve or prevent elementary problems, so they must go through management before authority to take action is granted. Some of these problems pile up and become a never-ending burden on the front line while other problems grow until they explode, at which time they are recognized. Management becomes preoccupied with the exploding elementary problems. Management’s priority is CONTROL.

Efficiency under worker responsibility!… People who are first aware of elementary problems have full authority to prevent or solve them while the problem is minor. Management is not involved with them, they are focused on new trends and technology. Management’s priority is to GET-THE-JOB-DONE.

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Responsibility Increases Knowledge Responsibility creates learning environments; likewise, control creates non-learning

environments. The concept is... People, who are considered intelligent will think and act that way. People who are considered irresponsible will think and act that way. This concept is based on self-fulfilling prophecy.

Workplace Learning Environment

Society says, “Classrooms should provide a learning environment.” What about the work environment? There seems to be little consideration about learning environments in the workplace. Learning environments inspire employees to advance their skills. In teams, there is opportunity to share knowledge. Efficiency increases with expanded knowledge.

Non-Learning Work Environment A non-learning environment is where

employees learn no more than necessary to do their job. The employer creates profits by the employees’ repetitive tasks and limited responsibility. Workers soon learn that low-level know-how helps them tolerate their job. Their desire to learn is suppressed and their desire to contribute input is killed. The results, many workers react by acting dumb and stupid, then bosses uses worker stupidity as an excuse not to be productive. With little pride or self-respect, everyone goes into a downward spiral. The best education in the world will not stop a downward spiral of indifference.

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Efficiency of Responsibility Opportunity with decision making responsibility is a powerful way to discovery true

capabilities of employees and the workplace as a team. The following concepts are only effective where true priority (not wishful) is to get the job done. In many workplaces, control has priority, which is the opposite of responsibility.

Worker responsibility is inefficient in the short term, but is efficient in the long term.

Following orders without input is efficient in the short term, but is inefficient, if not costly, in the long term.

Treat a person like an engineer, through self-fulfilling prophecy he will think and act like an engineer.

Treat a person like a helper, through self-fulfilling prophecy he will think and act like a helper.

Workplace adapts to change, becoming a leader of changing technology.

The workplace adapts to the status quo, becoming a follower of changing technology, when competitors forced them to.

There is opportunity for innovation. People by nature search for ways to make their job easier – with responsibility, they have authority to take action.

People following orders do not have authority to take action to make their job easier. They have learned not to have an opinion or make their opinion known. They accept the status quo and will fight change.

Leadership can discover and promote employees that have demonstrated natural talent for a given skill.

Where employees only follow orders, natural talent is not recognized or discovered.

Employees are considered an investment. Employers want to increase the value of their investment. Expanding employees’ capabilities will increase their value. New talent and ideas increases efficiency. This may be costly up front, but it reduces cost on the backside.

Employees are considered a cost. Employers want to lower cost. They do this by limiting training to narrowly focused tasks. This may lower cost up front, but it is costly on the backside. Very often a new employee is hired for a tasks a current employee could have handled.

Responsibility reduces the need for mid-level leadership.

Control increases the need for mid-level leadership.

Responsibility attracts people who seek to be on the leading edge of technology.

Control attracts people who reject change, they accept their current status.

Problems are solve while minor, if not avoided. Problems only get solved when recognized by authority.

During idle time, workers with responsibility brag how they solved or prevented problems. This is training time, passing on information to coworkers. Positive attitudes about the company are also exchanged

During idle time, workers idle talk is about outside activities, what they did last weekend and what they are going to do next weekend. This time is used for an escape from the work environment. Negative attitudes about the company are also exchanged.

Responsibility Versus Control in the Workplace Worker responsibility is inefficient in the short term, but is efficient in the long term.

Following orders without input is efficient in the short term, but is inefficient, if not costly, in the long term.

Treat a person like an engineer, through self-fulfilling prophecy he will think and act like an engineer.

Treat a person like a helper, through self-fulfilling prophecy he will think and act like a helper.

Workplace adapts to change, becoming a leader of changing technology.

The workplace adapts to the status quo, becoming a follower of changing technology, when competitors forced them to.

There is opportunity for innovation. People by nature search for ways to make their job easier – with responsibility, they have authority to take action.

People following orders do not have authority to take action to make their job easier. They have learned not to have an opinion or make their opinion known. They accept the status quo and will fight change.

Leadership can discover and promote employees that have demonstrated natural talent for a given skill.

Where employees only follow orders, natural talent is not recognized or discovered.

Employees are considered an investment. Employers want to increase the value of their investment. Expanding employees’ capabilities will increase their value. New talent and ideas increases efficiency. This may be costly up front, but it reduces cost on the backside.

Employees are considered a cost. Employers want to lower cost. They do this by limiting training to narrowly focused tasks. This may lower cost up front, but it is costly on the backside. Very often a new employee is hired for a tasks a current employee could have handled.

Responsibility reduces the need for mid-level leadership.

Control increases the need for mid-level leadership.

Responsibility attracts people who seek to be on the leading edge of technology.

Control attracts people who reject change, they accept their current status.

Problems are solve while minor, if not avoided. Problems only get solved when recognized by authority.

During idle time, workers with responsibility brag how they solved or prevented problems. This is training time, passing on information to coworkers. Positive attitudes about the company are also exchanged

During idle time, workers idle talk is about outside activities, what they did last weekend and what they are going to do next weekend. This time is used for an escape from the work environment. Negative attitudes about the company are also exchanged.

Responsibility Versus Control in the Workplace

Decision making responsibility offers opportunity to discover natural talent. Until a person is given opportunity, their true capabilities are not know.

Decision making responsibility motivates/inspires one to excel, thereby, realizing they can reach beyond their self-imposed limits.

Decision making responsibility develops a love-to-learn. A love-to-learn opens doors to opportunity.

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Learning Environments Non Learning Environments

Opportunity Trust Responsibility

Employers that delegate responsibility trust their employees and motivate them to be the best. Trust and responsibility leads to opportunity.

Employers that do not trust their employees, establish work procedures to control them. For lack of trust, there is limited responsibility and opportunity.

Cross Training

Learning new skills is a result of a company creating opportunity. Employees that become involved in different tasks understand what the company is trying to achieve. The more involved employees become the greater their pride for the company and their part in it.

Control limits responsibility, which limits the amount of training the company will provide. If the company needs new skills, they will hire someone who has them. High employee turnover makes it possible to hire needed skills.

Conflict, Debate

We all learn possibilities and limits when we debate problems. Each person has a point of view that needs to be considered. The results, everyone has a better understanding of the problem.

People, who never become involved in debates, never learn of possibilities or limits. They are robbed of the learning process that leads to responsibility and opportunity.

Bragging Socializing Coworker, One on One

Responsibility leads to bragging, telling coworkers how they solved or prevented problems. This is training for coworkers, telling them what works and does not work. Coworkers’ experiences have a greater impact than formal classroom training.

Control limits knowledge-sharing socializing. When workers do socialize, they talk about any subject, other than their job. Job experiences are not passed on except conflicts with the bosses. Socializing as a training option is lost to the company and the employees.

Crisis, Survival Training

Risk training is learning to make quality decisions under pressure. Few companies have deliberate crisis training so employees must learn this skill through self-education.

Control systems are not supposed to have a crisis. Problems are covered up until they explode. Very often, recovery is impossible and the company goes out of business.

Leadership Example

Bosses act as a coach; they help employees to be the best they can be. Their example becomes employees’ goal.

Bosses want workers to know who the boss is. They fire anyone who opposes him.

Failure Success

Employees are allowed to fail and try again. Risk takers try and fail until they get it right. Results are highly productive. Employees adapt easily to new technology.

Employees are not allowed to take risk or fail. Risk takers are called troublemakers and fired. In order to adapt new technology they must hire new employees.

Technology Technology is used to help employees do their job

Technology is used to control employees.

Summary

Companies that implement learning environments have low turnover, which makes it difficult for outsiders to become hired. Learning opportunity increases a persons desire to excel and learn new skills, it develops positive self-esteem and self-pride just to name a few attributes.

Companies that promote controlled non-learning environments have a high turnover, they are always advertising for help. Tightly controlled work environments destroys a persons desire to excel.

Learning Environments Non Learning Environments

Opportunity Trust Responsibility

Employers that delegate responsibility trust their employees and motivate them to be the best. Trust and responsibility leads to opportunity.

Employers that do not trust their employees, establish work procedures to control them. For lack of trust, there is limited responsibility and opportunity.

Cross Training

Learning new skills is a result of a company creating opportunity. Employees that become involved in different tasks understand what the company is trying to achieve. The more involved employees become the greater their pride for the company and their part in it.

Control limits responsibility, which limits the amount of training the company will provide. If the company needs new skills, they will hire someone who has them. High employee turnover makes it possible to hire needed skills.

Conflict, Debate

We all learn possibilities and limits when we debate problems. Each person has a point of view that needs to be considered. The results, everyone has a better understanding of the problem.

People, who never become involved in debates, never learn of possibilities or limits. They are robbed of the learning process that leads to responsibility and opportunity.

Bragging Socializing Coworker, One on One

Responsibility leads to bragging, telling coworkers how they solved or prevented problems. This is training for coworkers, telling them what works and does not work. Coworkers’ experiences have a greater impact than formal classroom training.

Control limits knowledge-sharing socializing. When workers do socialize, they talk about any subject, other than their job. Job experiences are not passed on except conflicts with the bosses. Socializing as a training option is lost to the company and the employees.

Crisis, Survival Training

Risk training is learning to make quality decisions under pressure. Few companies have deliberate crisis training so employees must learn this skill through self-education.

Control systems are not supposed to have a crisis. Problems are covered up until they explode. Very often, recovery is impossible and the company goes out of business.

Leadership Example

Bosses act as a coach; they help employees to be the best they can be. Their example becomes employees’ goal.

Bosses want workers to know who the boss is. They fire anyone who opposes him.

Failure Success

Employees are allowed to fail and try again. Risk takers try and fail until they get it right. Results are highly productive. Employees adapt easily to new technology.

Employees are not allowed to take risk or fail. Risk takers are called troublemakers and fired. In order to adapt new technology they must hire new employees.

Technology Technology is used to help employees do their job

Technology is used to control employees.

Summary

Companies that implement learning environments have low turnover, which makes it difficult for outsiders to become hired. Learning opportunity increases a persons desire to excel and learn new skills, it develops positive self-esteem and self-pride just to name a few attributes.

Companies that promote controlled non-learning environments have a high turnover, they are always advertising for help. Tightly controlled work environments destroys a persons desire to excel.

Efficiency of Learning Opportunities

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The Brain at Work Two men appear to be doing the same amount of work with the same amount of energy.

In reality, one man’s energy slowly dies and efficiency fades away while the other is able to sustain high energy and maintain efficiency. What is the difference?

Worker Responsibility The brain is like Peter Pan, searching for a

better way. He is stimulated and full of energy, because what he does will be recognized, and will make a difference. It is his responsibility to make things happen. His social environment motivates him which adds energy to the desire to excel.

Authority Controlled The brain is like Humpty Dumpty sitting

on a wall, lifeless, waiting for things to happen. There is no stimulus because all he does is follow orders. To keep his job he must appear to be working hard. Finding a better way is the boss’s job. He accepts the status quo and no longer has a desire to excel.

Decision making responsibility is a form of education that is extremely powerful, because it inspires and motivates. This is why businesses want to implement responsibility in their workforce.

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Elements of Visionary Leadership The Objective is to increase workplace efficiency by controlling elementary problems with

workplace education tools. Workplace education finds efficient ways to get jobs done.

The goal in any task is to get the job done. Leadership style controls efficiency, which controls competitive value of product or service, which determines the winner.

Leadership Innovation – Today, fast growing organizations are built on leadership innovation, that is, they are not built by product visionaries but by social visionaries — those who invent entirely new ways of organizing human effort. Southwest Airlines, Inc. is an example.

Definition of Terms Visionary Leadership increases efficiency by moving decision-making responsibility to the

frontline. Efficiency is achieved with limited supervision. To make frontline responsibility effective, leadership must give workers opportunity to develop quality decision-making skills and learn to trust them. Wal-Mart stores use visionary leadership.

Standard leadership assumes employees to be robots and do as they are told. This is based on man’s natural instinct that only leadership is capable of making quality decisions. This is known as command-and-control leadership. Low efficiency is caused by the disconnect between management and the frontline. Management is busy dealing with problems that affect them while ignoring problems that affect the frontline. Front line problems are only dealt with when they explode into a major problem. K-Mart stores use standard leadership.

Workplace education creates a workforce of quality decision makers. Employees at all levels have the opportunity to discover and develop their unique skills, thereby, inspiring them to become quality decision-makers. The key word is “opportunity.” Not everyone will embrace this opportunity, but the few that do will inspire others with positive attitudes. This can only be achieved with visionary leadership.

Primary Elements Organization structure controls decision-making responsibility. Visionary leadership allows

decision-making responsibility all the way down to the frontline. Standard leadership limits decision making to management.

Priorities – Organization priorities control leadership style.

When priority is responsibility at the frontline, leadership will seek talent, people he can depend on to complete tasks with limited supervision. The policy will be “do it.” The frontline develops quality decision-making skills that are also found in layers of management.

When the priority is control, leadership will be organized in a way that all decisions must have approval. The policy will be “do not do anything until being told.” Layers of management slow the final decision, while lowering efficiency.

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Policies - Leadership style is controlled by workplace policies. Leaders will adapt their style to the organization priorities and its goals.

High efficiency workplaces are based on visionary leadership, where workplace policies authorize decision-making responsibility at the frontline. Limited supervision is needed with worker responsibility.

Standard leadership is based on man’s instinctive desire for control, which is leadership by default. A leader’s changing mood controls policy of the moment and no one knows what the priorities are – mood-changing priorities reduce efficiency. Standard leadership requires a high level of supervision.

Elementary problems - Leadership style controls the level of elementary problems, which controls workplace efficiency. Level of elementary problems is controlled, in part, by learning opportunities and leader’s personal priority.

Decision-making responsibility, at all levels, allows minor problems to be solved by those who are first aware of them. Management can stay focused on problems related to the organization goals. As a bonus, employee motivation is high when they feel what they are doing makes a difference.

A leader’s desire for control prevents minor problems from being solved, because no one can make a decision without approval. Leaders’ priorities are based on high visibility events. As employees adjust work habits to minor problems, they become accepted as normal. The volume of these problems slowly grows and the workforce slowly becomes less efficient. Management blames workers for their lack of ability to get the job done. Assigning blame without responsibility solves nothing.

Learning opportunity - Quality of worker decisions is controlled by workplace learning opportunities.

Learning to make quality decisions is the result of worker responsibility, resulting in the development of personal skills. An experienced workforce prevents elementary problems. Continuous learning opportunity is highly motivating—it controls employee inspiration, skill level and quality.

People, who only follow orders, do not have learning opportunity, do not develop personal skills and do not learn quality decision making. A workforce that is indifferent to the needs of the organization increases elementary problems. Workers learn no more than necessary to their job.

Achievers – Everyone wants to be an achiever in and out of the workplace. With workplace ambitions, leadership promotes or kills this desire.

People, who have a burning drive to be an achiever, seek opportunity in organizations that have a reputation of supporting personal ambitions. Their presents inspire coworkers to do the same or simply be proud of their surroundings. Leadership welcomes subordinates more capable than themselves, because their first priority is to get the job done with limited supervision.

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Command-and-control leadership drives away visionary achievers. Should they become employed, they will soon quit or be fired. Leaders do not want their status threatened by ambitious subordinates or someone more capable than themselves, because their first priority is control. As a result, the workforce waits for official decisions and waits for things to happen. A high level of supervision in needed to keep things moving.

Natural talent - Leadership style controls the ability to recognize natural talent. No one knows what their true capabilities are until they are given opportunity and responsibility.

Where workers have decision-making responsibility, unique skills and natural talent are soon recognized by coworkers and leadership. An employee may discover talent he did not know he had. With discovery, he can search for ways to develop it. Efficiency increases when natural talent is in harmony with assigned tasks.

Where workers only follow orders—unique skills, natural talent and discovery of capabilities are lost to the company and its employees.

Skill level – The ability and desire to share knowledge with coworkers influences the continuing education level of the workforce, thereby, increasing skill level and the value of their services. Workplace education is dead for people who only follow orders.

Technology – Today’s technology is reducing the time it takes to get jobs done. Workplace education is the only way to stay on technology’s leading edge. Visionary leadership, not standard, is the only way for the organization to be a leader in its field.

Getting the job done – Projects only have value when the job is completed, until then, it is garbage. Competitive value depends on the efficiency of getting the job done, which is based on keeping elementary problems to a minimum. Efficiency is also a byproduct of employees’ attitude towards their job. Leadership, opportunity and responsibility influence attitude.

Self-fulfilling prophecy - If leaders want to control workers, they will lead in such a way that self-fulfilling prophecy will condition workers to do nothing unless closely supervised. If leaders want workers to assume responsibility, they must lead in such a way that self-fulfilling prophecy will condition workers to assume responsibility. Employee turnover sorts personalities, attracting people who fit the leader’s image and rejecting those who do not, thus fulfilling the self-fulfilling prophecy.

Social prejudice believes other people are less capable than we are. If we are managers and we think other people are less capable, then we will establish a management policy that reflects that belief. Through employee turnover and self-fulfilling prophecy, our opinion will be proven right.

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Teams Are Efficiency Machines A group of people with a common goal, that shares information, will expand their

knowledge. Take away the sharing of information, the group will no longer be a team, members will no longer be knowledgeable and constructive motivation will be gone.

Teams with responsibility develop into a knowledgeable workforce, which is highly effective for leaders who allow subordinates to be stronger than themselves. These leaders consider their subordinates as an investment, that is, additional training increases their value. By using the investment concept, many opportunities become available for increasing efficiency. If employees are considered a cost, that is, training is NOT cost effective, opportunity for increasing efficiency is limited.

Many leaders limit subordinates learning opportunity, because they want undisputed control. They want employees to follow orders and not have an opinion. Low knowledge level of subordinates is job security for leaders. With this attitude, talented employees are not recognized.

Responsibility makes early recognition of talented employees possible, because coworkers are first to recognize talent. This is why companies with worker responsibility programs find all the talent.

Team education is the most powerful education system in the world. Three motivated people, debating pros and cons, will learn extremely fast and have the power to overcome mountainous barriers regardless of their education background. Peer influence inspires creative intelligence, which becomes a powerful force.

People who share knowledge will increase their knowledge while motivating others. People, who only take orders, learn nothing and inspire no one.

Today’s technology is a world of exploding information, which has a short life span. Skills for the current trend are needed now, not when an instructor is available to teach it. The ability to acquire skills as new technology moves into the marketplace is the secret to staying ahead. Because of fast moving trends, classroom instruction is too little too late for keeping pace with changing technology. To take advantage of emerging trends, learning opportunity in the workplace can supply needed knowledge NOW!

The Windjammer program teaches teamwork, responsibility and the benefits of coaching versus orders. Not everyone can develop a high level of independence, but they can achieve powerful results in a team motivated environment.

My experience delegating decision making responsibility to teenagers.

I was captain of the Canal Zone training schooner during its dying days. The community lost interests in the ship and the money to keep it going dried up. The teenagers were eager to keep the ship going and I was one of a few adults willing to take them on weekend cruises. We would leave Friday night, sail around out of sight of land for two days and nights, and come back Sunday afternoon.

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I told the teenagers they had to assume full responsibility, including getting the ship ready for sailing, which included supplies, and they must assume full responsibility for the ship at sea. I would not intervene with their decisions even if it was bad, they had to learn from their mistakes. I would only intervene if the decision was too risky, which turned out to be rare.

About 2 AM one night I was at the stern watching the boys and girls, ages 14 to 17, reducing sail to get ready for an approaching squall. I did not have to give any orders; teen crew leaders gave the orders.

These teens were learning to accept risk and the responsibility that goes with it. Our society wants youth to take responsibility, but they don’t want them to be exposed to risk. Exposure to risk teaches the art of self-responsibility and the development of quality decisions. This is the first lesson aboard tall ships.

Short history of worker responsibility During the 1850s, adventurers went to

California seeking gold and riches. The Chinese came too, bringing a management style that was so efficient that laws were passed that required employers to give American applicants priority. The Chinese managed by worker responsibility while Americans managed by command-and-control. The Chinese responsibility concept is based on the ability to share knowledge, in effect, they combined education with the workplace. As a result, they were super efficient, which is a byproduct of being super motivated.

In the mid 1860s, during the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, the Central Pacific Railroad managers recognized the efficiency of the Chinese and hired them, ignoring hiring priority laws. During the late 1800s, John F. Stevens was a construction engineer on the western railroads and adapted worker responsibility concepts in his construction camps. In the western plains, there was little opportunity for formal education. The western railroads were built by people who had the ability to educate themselves and get things done. Mr. Stevens did not have a grade school education, yet his engineering skills were praised by the industry.

In 1905, President Teddy Roosevelt assigned Mr. John F. Stevens to be chief engineer of the Panama Canal where he implemented worker responsibility. The canal was completed on schedule and under budget. In 1963, Mr. Stevens management style was still in place when I was hired as a machinist. This was the first time I experienced a

Gatun Locks at the Panama Canal ___________________

During construction in 1904, Mr. John Stevens implemented worker responsibility. The construction was completed as scheduled and under budget. When Captain Bob was hired as machinist in 1963, worker responsibility policy was still in place. His leadership concepts are based on his 25 years with the Panama Canal Company.

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super motivated work environment with super motivated coworkers. Plus, skilled craftsmen had responsibility that was assigned to engineers at previous employment.

The Panama Canal Company has always been a leader in implementing new technology with very little opportunity for formal training. People who knew how to educate themselves were first to be offered opportunity. In 1980, I was taken out of the machine shop and given an office job. On my desk was a time sharing computer along with a manual. In those days, there was no pre-written software, users had to design and write their own programs. My assignment, write programs that are useful to the Locks Division, and there is no one available to help you learn the computer code. This was my first experience with a computer. The computer department grew by advancing machinist and welders who demonstrated strong self-education skills. In 1988, I retired as supervisor of the computer department that had a network of IBM PCs. A former blacksmith took my supervisory position.

Self-education skills opened doors of opportunity. With self-education skills, I designed a 50-foot ketch, self-built it using all craft trade

skills, learned celestial navigation, studied winds and currents and learned ship handling. My wife and I then sailed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for five years. In Panama, there are no schools to learn these skills, they must be self-taught. In third world countries, self-education is the only way to advance, because formal education opportunities are nonexistent compared to the United States.

The Search for Efficiency

Educators are searching for ways to motivate and inspire their students. Businesses are searching for ways to motivate and inspire their employees. Organizations that repeatedly combine these two elements are street gangs. Gang members are highly motivated and highly intelligent, but their goals are self-destructive. (Street gangs are empowered teams.)

A way needs to be found that adapts the street gangs’ organization structure into productive outlets, in education and the workplace. Ever increasing efficiency is the way organizations survive. Businesses do it or go out of business. The education system must adapt efficiency to maintain influence over our youth while keeping the high school dropout rate under control. Also, businesses want employees that think in teams, not as individuals as is the present system. An education system that was efficient in the twentieth century will not be efficient in the twenty-first century.

I managed a highly motivated team when working with teenagers aboard the tall ship Chief Aptakisic. This was a small group and my belief is that research is needed to find ways to expand team motivated learning for large numbers of students. This is the future in education and the workplace.

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Technical Schools & Natural Talent When blue-collar employers hire from technical schools, what do they get, intellectual

talent or technical talent? What does the employer want, intellectual skills or technical skills? To enter technical schools, students must achieve academic skills before they are allowed to develop technical skills. People who have natural intellectual talent are accepted, people who have natural technical talent are rejected.

Blue-collar employers hire technical students from the top of the class. One skill a college graduate is good at is writing impressive reports, that's how he got the the top of the class. The problem is, people who can write impressive reports do not have natural technical talent. The person who has natural technical talent is on the street looking for employment. He is not an intellectual and his report writing skills are in the dumps. What kind of technician does the employer want, report writers or people who have natural technical ability to get the job done? Supervisors like report writers, because it makes the department look good on paper, which, in many companies, has priority over getting the job done. For this reason, management gives high praise to students from technical colleges.

Technical training via the underground route. It's not hopeless for technical school rejects. The alternative is to enter the professional

world through the underground, meaning, bypassing the formal education system. The secret is to start in a small company that pays low wages. Employees natural talents are quickly recognize and opportunity is offered. This is how small companies can attract motivated young people.

The cycle continues... There are always companies that pay rock bottom wages, who always have openings, will ask few questions and hire anyone willing to accept a position. These companies are entry-level training grounds for the development of technical natural talent.

When the technician gains some experience, he moves to a company that pays average wages. In time, he can advance to a large company at top wages. They desperately need someone who has wide experience and knows how to get the job done.

I call "job hopping" the underground route to the top. The downside is, many technically talented people never find the underground route, opportunity that would lead them to a professional skill. Employers who need natural talented technicians can’t find them because their hiring criteria place academic achievement high on the qualification list.

The quote, "Job hopping is bad for your résumé," does not hold up in the blue-collar world. Employers want experience and job hoppers have a greater variety of experience than someone who is a one-company person. The personal office will complain about a job-hopping applicant, but will hire him for the variety of experience. In the blue-collar world, an applicant can increase his salary 25% to 50% by changing jobs. He could not get that with his current employer. Companies that pay top wages are not concerned with job hoppers, they are the end of the line. The plus side, they bring a treasure chest of experience, knowledge and new ideas to the company.

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I job hopped my way to the top. The above statements are based on my experience as a machinist during my twenties,

1955 to 1965. They also reflect experiences of many coworkers. I was rejected by technical schools and companies with formal apprentice programs. My big break came with the Panama Canal Company, Panama. During the interview, the interviewer seemed more interested in my attitude than my experience as machinist. In fact, at this time, I had not filled out an application form. At the end of the interview, I was told to fill it out. On the job, I soon found out why the attitude quiz. Craftsmen work with highly motivated coworkers in teams, a leadership style that was adapted during the construction days in 1905. I was assigned to a team and had ninety days to prove myself. Coworkers would determine if I stayed or went. I retired twenty-five years later.

Looking back at the interview, I believe my attitude profile was being tested and found to be in harmony with current employees. What skills I lacked would be learned in team environments. I also believe the interviewer knew I was at the end of my job hopping days and would retire with the company. The starting wages were double my former job, plus opportunity I never dreamed possible.

Some craftsmen I worked with had college degrees, but remained with the trade. Because of the empowerment nature of the organization, there was greater decision making and promotion opportunity than at the engineer level. Engineers made decisions on long-term projects, such as adapting new technology, while craftsmen made decisions for the day-to-day operations. Employees, at all levels, developed high quality job skills. As a result, some of my coworkers and supervisors became self-made millionaires.

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Lifestyles

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Changing Lifestyle’s What is success, money or a desired lifestyle? Our society measures success with

money. A lifestyle of personal achievement is real success — money is a reward or byproduct.

In 1964, I was living on the beach in Tahiti, building a replica of a Polynesian double hull boat with the goal of sailing it to Hawaii. My work site was next to a Polynesian village of five one-room homes, where most family members slept on the floor. The village shared one outhouse that had no door. The opening faced the main path that allowed one to talk to passer biers while attending to business. Women would take off their pareu and hang it on two hooks to close the opening. There was one shower stall with sheet metal sides about four feet high. Again, one could take a shower while talking to the neighbors. After dark, the teenagers would gather under coconut trees along the beach and sing — I would stand to one side and listen. Every morning a teenage girl set a pot of coffee and a loaf of French bread outside my tent before I got up. I was living a lifestyle I had dreamed of for years.

We all wish we could live a dramatic lifestyle. The difference between wishing and living is taking action to bust through barriers to make a desired lifestyle happen. The following is how I made my escape from a TV watcher to an adventurer in paradise.

At the age of 25, I was living in Oklahoma City trying to start my car in subzero weather, scraping ice from the windshield and driving to work on icy roads. At this time, I was picturing myself on a white sand beach somewhere in the tropical South Pacific. I was doing more than dreaming, I was working hard to overcome barriers that prevented me from making my dream come true. The first barrier was debts. I was living from payday to payday and “owed my sole to the company store” so to speak. Working for creditors was NOT an enjoyable lifestyle. The second barrier was friends’ negative reaction to my ambitions. They implied that it was time to grow up and forget childish dreams. It is next to impossible to carry out dreams in this environment. The third barrier was money, which soon became memory when the first two barriers were conquered.

My creditors were controlling my destiny and lifestyle.

Living from payday to payday is a lifestyle that is easy to adapt because we can acquire materialistic wealth NOW. It does not matter if we make $20,000 or $100,000 a year, higher income means higher debts. An increasing debt Bob on a bamboo raft, exploring the

coral reef.

Cleaning up at the village shower.

Liki Tiki construction camp and home.

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load strengthens the payday-to-payday lifestyle while burying the elusive dream deeper in memory. Our social environment is another factor that controls the persistence needed to fulfill our dream. Success is easier when we have the support of family and friends, but this is not always possible. When barriers become overpowering, most people succumb to being a slave to creditors and adapt to their current social environment. This is the path of least resistance.

Ask yourself; what is it you are seeking, money or lifestyle? Most people want money because they think they can buy a desirable lifestyle, so their primary goal is to wish for more

money. Playing the lottery is an example of a wish — it is not possible to learn how to buy a winning lottery ticket. More money is not the result of a wish — it is the result of personal achievement, learning how to increase the value of our services. When I finished my 6-weeks training at hard-hat diving school, the value of my services went from $15 per hour to $45 per hour. Hard-hat diving was also a lifestyle I enjoyed and I was rewarded with money.

When we base our goal on personal achievement with a burning desire, self-discipline and persistence, we will find the money to reach our goal. It is not money first – it is the pursuit of achievement first – elements that cost nothing to acquire. We must strive toward achievement with resources available at the time, learning to move ahead with what we have, however limited that may be.

My first goal was to put a halt to creditors controlling my lifestyle by learning to live within my income while paying off debts. My desired lifestyle of adventure would not tolerate debts. The year 1961 was the last time in my life I had a payday-to-payday debt burden. I then had the freedom and opportunity to search for employment in high paying companies and join social groups that supported my dreams of adventure. In my case, I found employment with the Panama Canal Company in Panama as a machinist. Panama is the crossroads of the world for adventures and this became my home base for jungle and sea adventures. The company’s biweekly newsletter often had articles about employees’ adventures. Panama’s newspaper, The Star & Herald, often wrote about adventures traveling through Panama. In this adventure charged environment I could tell of my ideas, get support and support others. In 1964, I was living on a beach in Tahiti with two forty-foot dugout canoes, fulfilling the dream of living in the South Sea Islands. Two years earlier, 1962, the opportunity to acquire these huge dugout canoes and ship them to Tahiti was impossible by all standards of reasoning. At that time, I had no debts, but I did not have any money either.

To start, your need a vision of the person you want to be. Being debt free and living a dynamic lifestyle sounds great to all of us. Most people

only wish and do not act because they have no clear vision of the person they want to be. All they know is they want more money. Without a clear vision and persistence, nothing is going to happen. Most people, in their youth, had a vision, but family and friends killed ambitions by making a mockery of their ideas. The pressure to be socially acceptable was strong and they gave up the dream. In a few years the realities of adult responsibility sealed their fate. For people without a vision, the best way to start is to go back to their youth and dig up old dreams. Start researching and see where they lead.

Financial Management — the skill that allows us to live the lifestyle of our dreams. Without this skill, we become a slave to our creditors.

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How to Make Dreams Come True - My Story by Captain Bob Webb

Public schools are supposed to remove barriers so people can succeed. For some, the system does remove barriers and provide a solid base for achievement. For others, the system replaces one set of barriers with another. For example, creativity is killed by pressuring students to accept the status quo, by establishing a fear to be different and a fear of failure. Independent thinking is replaced by dependency. In some cases, pressure to excel in academics kills the love-to-learn — a skill needed for success in the real world. People who have a vision, that motivates, will maintain a love-to-learn and overcome all barriers.

My Story My story begins in Summit, NJ, at the age of sixteen, where I am sitting in a classroom starring out the window. Out of the first window I could see myself exploring the jungles of South America searching for gold, I could

see myself drifting down the Amazon River on a raft, I could see monkeys swinging through the trees, I could see myself as Tarzan swinging on a vine. Through the next window, I could see the bow of my sailboat plowing through the towering waves, heading toward the South Pacific. I could see myself on a white sand beach chasing girls.

Then BANG! The teacher’s yardstick hitting my desk brought me back to the real world where subjects did not relate to my interest and dreamers are related to dummies. In a loud voice the teacher said, “You are a failure! If you don’t pay attention you will continue to be a failure!”

When the bell rang, instead of going to the next class, I walked out of school never to return. I was tired of being called a failure. Right or wrong, I took charge of my future. When I left school, I carried the single most important element for success… A DREAM. During the next twenty years, every one of my teenage dreams came true.

You may be asking, “How does one make their dreams come true?” I have discovered

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three elements that helps fulfill one’s goals:

First - We must have a dream that motivates us. No one has ever achieved anything without a dream attached to a burning desire.

Second - We must learn how-to-learn. In school, we learn how to memorize or be taught. Learning how to learn frees our dependency on others for knowledge.

Third - We must learn from failure and learn how to bounce back from failure. No one ever succeed without failure. In the classroom, failure is a no-no.

In my early teens’ I read the book Kon-Tiki. This is a story about six Norwegians sailing across the Pacific Ocean on a raft. Their adventure inspired my dream of duplicating their raft voyage. As a teenager with normal parents, a dream like this was considered ridiculous. Not only did friends and family not support my dream, they told me to get serious. But the Kon-Tiki dream turned me on. I wanted to know more about the ocean world and how it could be challenged. I went to the public library looking for more books and found plenty.

During the next few years, I joined the sea scouts, read boating magazines, studied books, and went to boat shows. To help understand seamanship techniques, I made model charts, buoys, and boats. With models, comprehension was easy. Unknowingly, I was learning the art of learning how-to-learn… Self-education. An education technique that would follow me the rest of my life, an education technique that would bring me success and make my wildest dreams come true.

At the age of nineteen, during the Korean War, I was in the Marine Corps and in Japan. On my first day of duty an officer told me, “You are a machinist and will be in charge of the machine shop.” As he gave me the shop keys, he pointed to a trailer. In the Marine Corps

Chasing girls and building boats on the white sand beaches in Tahiti. Cover of ARGOSY, September 1967

Dredging for gold in the jungles of Panama.

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everything is on wheels. When I opened the doors, I had my first look ever at a machine shop. In the shop was one short instruction manual titled “How to Run a Lathe.” When a job came in, I followed the manual’s instructions. I was surprised at my ability to complete assigned tasks. The Marine Corps experience launched my machinist career. It also made me realize that learning how-to-learn is a powerful tool. For example, every manmade object around us is the result of someone’s dream and failures. Consider the light bulb. Thomas Edison believed something could burn white-hot and not burn up. A wild unrealistic dream? Everyone knows everything burns up in a short time. A thousand failures later Thomas Edison burned a steel wire white-hot that never burned up. Continuous white heat creates light.

Opportunity is attracted to people with a dream. They are the first to be hired, first to be offered opportunity, and first to be promoted. Bigger the dream the faster doors open. People without a dream are last to be hired, last to be promoted, and first to be laid-off in a force reduction. For non-dreamers, doors remain closed. “WHY?” People with a dream act differently than non-dreamers, dreamers develop an attitude that radiates energy, they have a sense of purpose and meaning to their lives. Radiant energy is an attitude that bosses like and to which bosses offer opportunity. This is how the impossible becomes possible.

When I was discharged from the Marine Corps I decided people were right, my wild teenage dream was ridiculous. Real people do not drift across oceans on rafts. I am now an adult. I should think and act like one. The raft dream was dead. For the next five years, my life went nowhere, my ambition, hope, dreams, were gone. Something else was also gone… Opportunity that came fast during my earlier years also dried up.

One day I dusted off the Kon-Tiki book. My dream jumped off the pages and came back to life. I said to myself, “I must find a way!” Two years later, I was in Hawaii and learned how the Polynesian people populated the Pacific Islands in dugout canoes 2,000 years ago. My dream was changed from a raft to a dugout canoe. At this time, opportunity came back fast.

I helped crew a 36-foot sailboat from Hawaii to California. This provided my ocean sailing experience. Next, I was hired by the Panama Canal Company, Panama. Soon, my supervisor asked me to attend hard-hat diver school at company expense. With this skill, money

People With A Dream

Are first to be hired. Are first to be offered opportunity. Are first to be promoted. Are last to be laid off.

People Without A Dream

Are last to be hired. Are last to be offered opportunity. Are last to be promoted. Are first to be laid off.

Swinging on a vine while searching for gold in the jungles of Panama.

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was no longer a problem.

A short time later, I was living on a beach in Tahiti building a 40-foot Polynesian double-hull boat named Liki Tiki. The hulls were built by Choco Indians in the Darien Providence of Panama and shipped to Tahiti. I built the boat according to popular theory and information supplied by the Bishop Museum in /Honolulu. Three days at sea convinced me the double-hull theory was wrong. The two hulls worked against each other and would soon breakup.

Back in Panama, I took the problem to the Indians in the Darien Jungle. They said, “outriggers is what works.” I then succeeded in sailing a 36-foot dugout canoe with outriggers, named Liki Tiki Too from Panama to Hawaii — a trip of 5,000 miles.

Opportunity never stopped. For the Navy Undersea Center Hawaii I helped develop a two-man Plexiglas submarine. Moving back to the Panama Canal Zone, I learned five computer languages and became supervisor of the computer department, I became Captain of the Canal Zone’s training schooner Chief Aptakisic on which we took a group of teenagers to New York. My wife and I spent five years sailing the South Pacific Ocean in our own 50-foot ketch, Hunky-Dory, which I designed and self-built. Opportunity came my way because I could educate myself, had a vision and did not let a wild teenage dream die.

Liki Tiki Too Bob sailed a 36 foot dugout canoe with outriggers 5,000 miles from Panama to Hawaii. 1970

Taking a sun site with a sextant aboard the Liki Tiki Too.

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About Bob Webb Bob was raised in Summit, New Jersey. His

school years was a disaster and walked away from the formal education system at the age of 16. His super achievement skills were achieved through self-education techniques, skills he continues to use today. He says, "The ability to educate myself made it possible to break through society imposed barriers and be the person I dreamed of being."

At 17, he worked on an automotive assembly line in Michigan, at 18 he worked for the FE gold mining company in Fairbanks, Alaska. In 1954, at the age of 19, he joined the Marine Corps in Kodiak, Alaska. Six months later, in Japan, his machinist career started when he was put in charge of the 3rd Engineering Division machine shop. (Details in article “How to Make Dreams Come True”.) In 1963, Bob started his employment as machinist with the Panama Canal Company, Panama. In 1968, the company sent him to hard-hat diving school, after which, he performed maintenance on the gates and valves at the Locks Division. In 1970, he worked as machinist for the Navy Undersea Research and Development Division in Kaneohe, Hawaii, helping them develop their mammal warfare program. In 1973, Bob went back to the Panama Canal Company and became preventive maintenance supervisor. He retired in 1988 as supervisor of the computer department. In Guam, in 1990, he received his Coast Guard Captain’s licensed for tall ships and became dive boat captain. His current project is promoting motivation techniques for at-risk youth in the maritime world. He is now living in Goose Creek, South Carolina, USA.

His Adventures As a teenager, Bob dreamed of jungle and sea adventures. During his early years he

believed dreams were just that, dreams, they really don’t come true. At the age of 27, he found the courage to take action to make those dreams come true. At that time, he moved from Oklahoma City to Hawaii where he met active adventures, people doing the things he dreamed of. This is when his life as an adventure came true.

1962 - Bob helped crew a 36’ sailboat from Hawaii to Los Angeles, a 30-day voyage. One of the crewmembers was 20-year-old Joyce from British Colombia, Canada, who was finishing a two-year trip hitch-hiking around the world. During the voyage, she fascinated the crew with her travel experiences. The association and experiences on this voyage changed Bob’s life forever, giving him courage, motivation and a driving

Bob preparing for a dive in hard-hat suit at the Panama Canal, Panama in 1968.

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determination to be an achiever.

1962 - Bob hitch-hiked through Central America with the goal of traveling down the Amazon River. By the time he reached Panama, he was out of money. The Panama Canal was hiring and Bob signed on as a machinist. There he found coworkers who hired on for the same reason, they were traveling through Panama when they ran out of money. The highly motivated attitude of coworkers impressed him. He met a machinist who was a freelance writer for Yachting Magazine. A security guard loaned Bob a book he had written and published about the Panama Canal Zone. At the nearby Yacht Club, a number of yachts were under construction by company employees. In this can-do environment, the Panama Canal became home base for Bob’s adventures, on and off the job. He was soon promoted to a hard-hat diver and retired 25-years later as supervisor of the computer department.

Panama had an environment where Bob could develop ideas into workable projects. He set a goal of rediscovering how the Polynesian people traveled between Hawaii and New Zealand 2,000 years ago. Their boats were dugout canoes and they had no charts or navigation interments. The art of these high seas adventures was lost long before Europeans came to the Pacific. Bob’s next goal was to rediscover this lost art.

1963 - Bob traveled down the Amazon River by riverboat and raft. During this voyage, Bob took notes and made drawings of construction methods with supplies found in the jungle. With the ability to think and work like people without modern tools, Bob could advance to his next adventure.

1964 - Bob had the Choco Indians build two forty-foot dugout canoes. He shipped them to Tahiti where he

Bob and friends on their Amazon River raft. 1963

Locks at the Panama Canal.

The Liki Tiki Too somewhere in the mid Pacific Ocean.

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built a replica of a Polynesian double hull voyaging vessel. The goal was to sail it from Tahiti to Hawaii. During the three days at sea, Bob discovered the two heavy hulls worked against each other and would soon breakup.

1970 - Bob sailed a 36-foot single hull dugout with double outriggers, Liki Tiki Too, from Panama to Hawaii. The 5,000 mile voyage took 68 days. Dugouts with outriggers can cross any ocean.

Bob discovered the Polynesian method of navigation. He calls it comfort zone navigation. He says intuitive senses leads man to any goal he establishes, whether it be in business or sailing a dugout canoe to a distant island. He refers to Captain William Bligh after the mutiny on the Bounty 200 years ago. Captain Bligh and eighteen of his loyal crewmembers were set adrift in a lifeboat. Without navigation tools, they sailed the open boat 3,600 miles through uncharted waters to the Dutch colony, Timor, near Java. This outstanding achievement is only possible with comfort zone navigation. Intuitive forces helped the crew make the right decisions. Polynesians used the same navigation method.

1976 - Bob was navigator on the Panama Canal’s tall ship Chief Aptakisic. He helped take 14 teenagers to New York’s bicentennial celebration up the Hudson River. In Panama waters, Bob was Captain.

Bob had designed and self-built a 50-foot ketch named Hunky-Dory. With his wife Joan, they sailed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for five years.

The Liki Tiki Too somewhere in the mid Pacific Ocean.

Captain Bob and his wife Joan

Bob’s Hunky-Dory. He and his wife “Joan” designed, self-built this 50-foot ketch in Panama, then sailed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This photo was taken in Tonga. 1989

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Elements of a Successful Tall Ship Program Successful tall ship programs bring a desired service and

pride to the community, which is the up side of the program. The down side is, the tall ship business is extremely sensitive to organization and location. It is more so with nonprofit organizations, because they do not have the flexibility that profit ships have. Many promoters do not understand the concepts behind a tall ship program, they think of it as a neat idea. For this reason, startups have a high failure rate.

Critical elements in the organizational phase. Before a formal organization is established, there is an ad hoc phase where critical

organizational decisions are made. This phase will establish the operational mission and the type of leadership needed to carry it out such as, educators, import/export people or boat builders.

The critical elements are: 1. A clearly defined operational mission, supported by scientific or quantifiable data.

Very often, this is the missing link to attracting major financial supporters. Passion for the mission and/or creating an image, is not enough.

2. A primary sponsor who believes in the mission and will support it. Finding a primary sponsor is the reward to a clearly defined mission, and where the promoters got it RIGHT.

3. Establish an organization that meets the needs of the primary sponsor and the operational mission.

A tall ship project is promoted to two different groups, the public and sponsors. To the public, windjammers inspire romantic dreams of life under bellowing sails. This attracts large groups of people; the problem is, they do not bring money. Money comes from sponsors who support the mission, they do not support romantic dreams.

Sponsors have limited interest in the ship per se; they are interested in the mission, people who will carry out the mission and its goals. For this reason, it is important that the mission be able to stand on its own, without a tall ship. For example, if the mission is an educational program based on race relations, then the promoters’ must offer scientific or quantifiable evidence on how the ship can be superior to other forms of race relation programs. This is how the Amistad was organized.

Additional elements of successful tall ship programs. The project must be sponsored by a financially strong organization. The mission must provided a needed service to the community. The ship is a tool to help the organization enhance its mission. The primary mission must have a financial benefit to someone. Leadership is dedicated to the operational mission. The shipbuilding phase is contracted out.

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The organization and ship construction. During the construction phase of the ship, it is easy for the organization to lose control

of its mission, because the focus is on the shipbuilders and they are the current heroes. The easiest way to preserve the mission and the people who support it, is to contract out the construction. There are shipbuilding companies that will come to a community and build a tall ship.

If the organization loses control of its mission, shipbuilders will take control and the construction becomes the mission. When the ship is completed, if it gets that far, interest, supporters and money disappear, because the shipbuilding mission has reached its goal. There are tall ships rotting at their moorings because the organization lost control of its operational mission, if they had one in the beginning.

Examples of financial benefits Youth-at-risk program: It cost state governments about $18,000 per year to keep a

teenager in jail. The government would rather pay this money to an organization that has proven programs that keep teenagers out of jail. It is highly profitable for state governments to support programs that motivate teenagers to become taxpayers instead of tax burdens.

Diplomatic tall ships are, in reality, traveling salesmen. They usually are supported by large manufacturing companies. Advance shore parties are coordinated with ship’s ports of call. While the ship is in world ports, customers are invited aboard where contracts are signed. This technique has been proven to be a huge financial benefit to its supporters through increased sales.

The Amistad theme is race relations. “Its mission is to promote reconciliation and harmony among races.” Everyone associated with the organization has an interest in supporting race relation programs. Crew member selection is based on their commitment to the mission and ability to fulfill it. Ship construction was contracted out to Mystic Seaport, which means, the organization was controlled by educators, not shipbuilders. United Church of Christ is the primary sponsor and they have little interest in tall ships, as an organization. The Amistad organization displays all the elements of a successful tall ship project.

Mission Summary Successful tall ships start with the ship’s mission, where the organization did extensive

research, including who will benefit and who will finance the operations program. Once supporters are in place, the organization then makes plans to acquire a ship, either purchase or build. A successful tall ship is a tool to achieve the primary mission, not a ship in search of a mission. This is true for any type of business; the tall ship business is no different.

If the mission is for youth character development, the organization could start with a donated ship. A successful pilot program would attract funds for building a first class ship.

If the mission is diplomatic, the ship needs to be unique with the ability to stand out in a harbor of high-class sailing vessels. A vessel that is first rate in its home port may appear to be a poor man’s boat in another harbor, anchored next to high-class ships. The Pride of Baltimore is a unique diplomatic ship that stands out in any

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harbor. This uniqueness makes the diplomatic mission possible.

If the intended mission doesn’t attract desired sponsors, then the ship will become a full-time charter vessel and compete with other tall ships for the same market. A three million dollar vessel will have to charge double the going rate of a one million dollar vessel to meet expenses.

Financial Supporters The largest group of financial supports are from people and organizations who have

no interest in tall ships. Their interest is in the goals and objectives of the mission, therefore, the program must be designed around their interest. They are the major supporters who get projects off the ground.

The smallest group of financial supporters are people and organizations who have a great deal of interest in tall ships. Funding from them is limited.

The operational mission will determine the volume of potential supporting organizations that may have an interest in the program. Race relation programs have a huge network of activist. Maritime history programs have a limited network of activists. The number of potential supporting organizations is a factor that needs to be considered.

Note: Finding support for a tall ship is compounded by the ship’s high operational cost, while serving only a small number of people. This cost has to be justified in the operational mission’s report.

Leadership Summary If the operational mission is to be

educational, then project leadership must be made up of educators.

If the operational mission is to be diplomatic, then project leadership must be made up of import/export people.

If leadership is made up of boat builders, then the ship will be a full time charter vessel. Success of the vessel will depend on home port interest and competitors.

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My experience with a tall ship that rotted at its moorings. In 1977, I was captain of the Panama Canal Zone’s training schooner Chief Aptakisic.

At first, there was spontaneous community interest and the program was able to raise money to complete the ship. Once the ship was completed, community interest and money to maintain it faded. The ship soon died, because there was no physical owner and no money. I and some others kept it going for four years and then it was scuttled. With no resources for major maintenance you can imagine the condition it was in.

Promotional interest was in the ship not the training program. I believe, if the primary interest was the training program, the ship might still be operating today.

My Research on Tall Ship Organizations The above information is based on my experience with profit and nonprofit tall ship

organizations. It is also based on research of highly successful nonprofit ships, primarily, Pride of Baltimore and Amistad. The research also included the Los Angeles Maritime Institute’s, Top Sail program and Living Classroom Foundation’s maritime program. At the Living Classroom, I was given a half day tour of their facilities with the opportunity to interview five staff members. This tour convinced me that a meaningful tall ship program must have an active shore program. The Living Classroom program reaches out to 30,000 students in the state of Maryland. This inspired my concept of the Self-discovery School.

Captain Bob at the helm of the Pride of Baltimore

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Sailing Ships Salute USA's 200th Birthday

on the Hudson River On July 4, 1976, the Chief Aptakisic joined 150 tall ships from around the world for a

parade up the Hudson River. Canal Zone teenagers joined over 5,000 other cadets participating in the event.

Itinerary of 1976 May 22 Leave Canal Zone May 29 Kingston, Jamaica May 31 Great Inagua June 15 Bermuda July 4 New York July 11 Baltimore, MD July 20 Norfolk, VA July 30 Wilmington, NC August 11 St. Augustine, FL August Bahaman Islands August 24 Port Antonio, Jamaica September 4 Return to Canal Zone

When the ship left the Canal Zone, the teenagers were teenagers. When the ship came back three months later, the teenagers were adults and assumed responsibility as adults. This experience helped them overcome many barriers, that the typical teenager has to deal with, by discovering their true capabilities.

The Chief Aptakisic project was inspired Dr. Charles L. Latimer and promoted by Captain George Brisbin. This project became a reality by their vision, leadership and hard work. They inspired adults and teenagers alike, helping them develop skills to be all that can be, that continues to this day.

Photos: Panama Canal Zone Sea Scout ship Chief Aptakisic during the late 1970s.

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During the 1970s, I was captain of this schooner, working with teenagers. During 2003, I went looking for former teens and found 40 of them.

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Benefits of a Maritime Career High Wages

The transport maritime industry pays above average wages. Very often, skilled blue-collar workers yearly income is more than white-collar management. Investment in ships, container yards and cranes are extremely costly and must operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. As a result, there is lots of overtime. Idle facilities are more costly that employee overtime.

The scientific maritime industry does not have the time pressures that transports have, therefore, the annual wage level may be lower. However, the challenges they are confronted with makes their job exciting.

The recreational maritime industry is for fun, for the sportsman at his convince. Wages are normal, except for specialty skills such as diving instructor. The up side is, it is fun to work with people who are paying to have fun.

Adventure Environment The maritime world is associated with the forces of nature, in this case, water. Water

mixed with wind is unpredictable and this unpredictability creates an environment of adventure. Under the harshest of conditions, jobs still have to get done. Because 100 knot winds are whipping up the seas does not mean you can take the day off, one must assume responsibilities and deal with the situation at hand.

In the marine world, contacts with interesting people and unusual projects are common, such as, connections to people diving on the Titanic or the Coast Guard's search and rescue missions. The maritime environment is man's last frontier and many want to be part of it.

The maritime world attracts adventures, freelance and sponsored. Depending on the project, the paths of similar interested people cross in various ports around the world. Suva, Fiji is the crossroads of world circling yachtsmen. Panama is the crossroads of all types of mariners traveling from ocean to ocean -- it is also the crossroads of land adventures traveling north and south. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute is the crossroads of maritime scientist. Adventure inspired visionaries are at these crossroads with wild ideas, willing to share their ambitions with fellow adventures. The seemly impossible suddenly becomes possible.

Exposure to Opportunity The maritime world is a mixture of many skills and professional trades. In this

environment, there is exposure to other skills, such as, a marine machinist who is assigned to work with divers. Having a working relationship with divers increases the chances of becoming a diver. Connections create opportunity for advancement.

Opportunity to Promote Creative Concepts In the maritime world, people from the four corners of the world are exposed to

different cultures and different ways of thinking. This helps remove the barriers to

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creative thinking. In this environment, it becomes possible to think, talk about and promote unique ideas.

It was my goal to sail across the Pacific Ocean in a dugout canoe. I was supported by coworkers, the community and received support from top leadership of the company I worked for, The Panama Canal Company. The 5,000-mile voyage from Panama to Hawaii took 68 days. Before Panama, I was living in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. If I had dared express my sea adventure ambitions in this environment, friends would have encouraged me to see a doctor.

Many people have unique concepts that are killed by the environment they live in. In the maritime world, many of these barriers are non-existent. If you are creative and like adventure, a career in the marine and maritime world is for you.

Education and Training (getting started) Attending the Merchant Marine Academy, Coast Guard Academy or Navy Academy

will put you on the fast track for opportunity and advancement.

There are various types of marine related colleges and schools where you pay the tuition, usually white-collar careers.

There are apprentice programs in the blue-collar workforce where you are paid an hourly wage. Today, technical colleges are starting to replace traditional apprentice programs.

For those not meeting acceptance qualifications, they can begin a blue-collar career as a laborer. In the industrial workforce, there is always semi-skilled work that needs to be done. A high percentage of trade professionals started at the bottom and worked their way up. Industrial businesses like this type of person, because they can hire naturally talented craftsmen at low wages.

For a laborer to advance, they need to be recognized. Attributes for recognition are positive self-esteem, self-motivated, ambitious and can learn fast. Learning is related to dexterity and mechanical skills. Repairing diesel engines, is an example.

More Information

The below links are live. I included the address should the live link be striped. The Motivation Tool Chest website has extensive articles on the topic used in

this document. Project Based Education — motivation-tools.com/youth/ Learning Personality — motivation-tools.com/youth/learning_personality.htm Comfort Zone Navigation — motivation-tools.com/liki_tiki/navigation.htm Workplace Education — motivation-tools.com/workplace/2-

workplace_education.htm Setting Goals — motivation-tools.com/elements/setting_goals.htm The Liki Tiki Story—motivation-tools.com/downloads.htm Visions and Lifestyles—motivation-tools.com/elements/life_styles.htm